Reading this was nostalgic for me because I grew up in Queens, NY close enough to LaGuardia that I could bike to fields nearby where I could lie on my back and see the undersides of the airplanes.

I went to NYC public schools as well, though my parents sent me to a private Catholic school for kindergarten even though they were Hindu. We immigrated from India when I was 3 years old. I am about 10 years younger than you, which means I was in that area after whites who wanted to leave had probably done so.

My experience of Queens was thankfully different from yours - I didn't have black kids in my grade school classes, but I had friends from Pakistan, China, Venezuela, Columbia, Greece, Germany, Italy... also a girl who was a descendent of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

However, I became friends with a black girl in an afterschool program for bright children and my mother was friends with an elderly black woman who lived on our street.

I did experience racism from a couple of teachers who were obviously prejudiced.

In junior high, my friends circle included a couple of black girls from the Caribbean. It was a diverse group and we once got together and described ourselves - "black is beautiful", "white is wonderful", "tan is terrific", etc.

I watched the YouTube video you shared and now I want to see that movie. I remember reading the book as a child but never knew there was a movie. The scene you shared was so poignant.