This TED Talk features journalist Forte Geraldino recorded live at TED Residency 2017.

So Ma was trying to explain something to me about grandma when they grew up, but I couldn't pay attention to her because I was five years old and I was petrified.

I had just seen the Green Lady. Now, about a week earlier, I'd watch that movie

Godzilla, the one about that huge lizard-like beast storming a major city, and the thought of a

green monster coming from me was stuck in my mind. And yet there I was at the tip of lower Manhattan

with my mom just staring at her. Her horns, her muscles, all of it just frightened me.

And I didn't know whether she was a monster or a hero.

So I decided to consult the Google of the day.

Ma, ma.

My mother explained that the green lady is actually the statue of liberty and that she was waving immigrants in.

Now, the part of her explanation that really messed with my young head was the fact that, according to Ma, long before us, the green lady was actually brown, brown like me,

and that she changed colors over the years.

Now, much like America.

Now, the part that really is intriguing about this

is that when she changed colors, she made me think about myself.

Now, it all made sense to me because as a first-generation American, I was surrounded by immigrants.

In fact, within my immediate social circle of the people who support me, who enrich my life,

at least two are foreign-born.

My life as a U.S. citizen is in many ways shaped by newcomers, and chances are, so is yours. There are more than 40 million immigrants in the U.S. citizen is in many ways shaped by newcomers, and chances are, so is yours. There are more

than 40 million immigrants in the USA. According to census data, a quarter of the nation's

children have at least one foreign-born parent. I know all these statistics because I study

global migration patterns. I'm a journalist, and for the last few years,

...