Need help revising Personal Statement

i need to cut down about 30 words and I'm not sure from where. Also would like to revise first sentence because it sounds awkward and also any other revisions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The families of most eighth grade teens would share their joy when the child goes to junior high school prom. But my parents were never introduced to my date. When I showed the prom photo to my parents, my mother immediately said, “Oh my goodness, she is so black...”
Growing up in Lefferts Garden, a small neighborhood located in the center of Brooklyn, I lived in the only Asian household for many blocks around where everyone else was of either African American or Caribbean descent. I was a dot of yellow in a sea of black but I never truly felt out of place.
Despite the negative attention I received from some children for being Chinese, I made many great friends in the neighborhood. Every day I ran down the block and called out “Chad! Chad! Come Down!” and then go next door to call my other close friend Shakeem. I did this so frequently that the landlords in the buildings became agitated and mocked me from their windows. But they weren’t doing it because I was different; they did it because I was just another annoying kid on the block and I was happy to be just that.
There were also many adults around with whom I felt close to such as the older men from the barbershop next door. Every day I watched them play dominoes and whenever a seat was available, they beckoned me over to play with them. When I was occasionally harassed by the other children from the block, they came to my defense and always made me feel welcome in the neighborhood.
My family had always openly expressed their distaste for the neighborhood but when I presented that prom photo and those words came out of my mother's mouth, I had to take a stand. I told my mother how judgmental and ignorant she seemed and explained that not all people fit the poor stereotypes that my parents had stuck within their minds. My father began telling me with blood red eyes about all the negative experiences he has had in this neighborhood as my mother just stood there nodding her head.
This neighborhood was my home and the place I grew up in with good friends and good people watching over me that showed me that friendship and love know no color. I told my parents about Chad, Shakeem, and all the kind men from the barbershop who were there for me when they weren’t. They didn’t completely change their views about the neighborhood but I knew they understood my message and from then on they kept the negative comments to themselves.
Now that I‘ve grown much older and have moved elsewhere, I've come to realize that living in my old neighborhood has made me into a better person and I have my old friends and the barbershop men to thank for it. I have been taught to be open-minded so that I can learn more about others and about the world. The struggles of living in that neighborhood as a child have shaped and molded the core values and beliefs that I hold so dear to me now.