Michael Rain: What it's like to be the child of immigrants
מייקל ריין: איך זה להיות ילד של מהגרים
TED Resident Michael Rain communicates ideas through written and visual stories. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
when I was in the third grade,
with a Ghanaian staple dish called "fufu."
עם תבשיל גנאי שקרוא "פופו"
made of cassava,
which is a dark orange color,
would keep me warm on a cold day.
and I opened my thermos,
ופתחתי את הטרמוס שלי,
What's a fufu?" they asked.
מה זה פופו?" הם שאלו.
send me to school with fufu again.
עם פופו לבית הספר
or chicken noodle soup
או מרק אטריות ועוף
that my friends were eating.
between what was unique to my family
came to the US almost 50 years ago.
לפני כמעט 50 שנים.
in a northern region of Ghana,
his bachelor's degree in accounting
והרוויח את התואר הראשון שלו בחשבונאות
joined him years later.
הצטרפה אליו מספר שנים לאחר מכן,
in lower Manhattan,
her own women's clothing store.
חנות בגדים לנשים משל עצמה.
around the world
these different classifications.
or Korean-Americans or Nigerian-Brits.
או קוריאנים-אמריקאים או ניגרים-בריטים.
and experiences different
in a country different than our parents,
במדינה שונה מזו של הורינו
to the largest number of immigrants
ביתה של מספר המהגרים הכי גבוה
in a place like New York,
כמו ניו יורק
person to find their place.
that formed my understanding
a student asked me
that his parents told him
who come to the US
שבאים לארה"ב
and they laughed a bit,
והם ציחקקו,
but because it was a generalization.
אבל בגלל שזו הייתה הַכְלָלָה.
enough to eat in Ghana
more complex as I got older.
of black American students,
תלמידים אמריקאים שחורים,
why I sounded differently than they did
למה נשמעתי שונה מהם
different than theirs.
and he shared his own confusion
והוא שיתף אותי עם בלבולו האישי
when he first came to the US.
when he was in Ghana, everyone was black,
כולם היו שחורים,
would only consider me to be
מחשיבים אותי
and complex cultural issues
והסוגיות התרבותיות המורכבות הללו
in the United States,
tell me it's Latinos,
שאלו הם הלטינוס,
immigrant demographic?
but it's actually African immigrants.
אך אלו בעצם המהגרים האפריקאים.
out of the eight countries
Muslims only live in the Middle East,
חיים רק במזרח התיכון,
banned people are Africans.
הם אפריקאים.
and policy and religion,
about immigrants are incorrect.
הינן שגויות.
like workplace diversity and inclusion,
כמו גיוון במקום העבודה והכללה,
gender-ethnicity combination
to senior managerial positions,
לתפקיד ניהולי בכיר,
least likely to be promoted.
is part of my work
הן חלק מעבודתי
for people to find these stories.
על אנשים למצוא סיפורים אלו.
of portraits and firsthand accounts
של דיוקנים וסיפורים ממקור ראשון.
first-generation immigrants just like me
מדור-ראשון בדיוק כמוני
for the countries we grew up in,
for many of us who are misunderstood
לכל אלו מאתנו שלא מובנים כהלכה
their countries of origin
את מדינות המוצא שלהם
you might know are Enodi.
הם אנודים.
States, Barack Obama,
or Caribbean immigrants.
of first-generation folks.
in North America and Europe,
ובאירופה,
how critical we are
smells new or different to you --
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Rain - Digital storytellerTED Resident Michael Rain communicates ideas through written and visual stories.
Why you should listen
Michael Rain communicates ideas through written and visual stories. He is the creator of ENODI, a digital gallery that chronicles the lives of first-generation Black immigrants of African, Caribbean and Latinx descent, and the co-founder of the emerging tech startup ZNews Africa, a Google, Facebook and Microsoft accelerator member that builds mobile app, email and web products.
Rain's creative and commercial work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Upscale Magazine and the Harlem Arts Festival. He has moderated panels and delivered remarks on entrepreneurship and digital media at major events and conferences at the US Department of State, Harvard Business School, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and the NYU Stern School of Business.
Rain earned a BA in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations from Columbia University. He is a 2017 TED Resident and a fellow at the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He is Ghanaian-American, a lifelong New Yorker and Brooklyn native.
Michael Rain | Speaker | TED.com