Recap by MP

Topic recap sheet n°6 : Memory is a tricky thing | Step Two : The forgotten people
Content / Documents :
Pictures : cartoon (Halbritter and the Redskins) / Harriet Tubman on the 20
Graphs : poverty and ethnicity / Housing figures on reservations
Video : Women and money / the Redskins controversy / Proud to be / America is a stolen country
Texts : Shirley Chisholm and Harriet Tubman / Short Story : Borders, by Thomas King
Civilisation / Culture : the “native” Americans / First Nations (20 facts : Did you know that…)
Picture(s) (description & meaning)
Description : A 20 US dollar bill on which the face of President Andrew Jackson has been erased and
replaced with a woman’s face ( Harriet Tubman)
Meaning : Campaign to place a woman’s face on the US currency. The campaigners had come up with a
list of 15 extraordinary women (http://www.womenon20s.org/candidates ) which was narrowed down to
one (Harriet Tubman won the online vote)
Putting a woman’s face on the currency would mean that the country eventually recognizes that women
and men now stand on an equal footing. The objective is to have the new dollar bill printed by 2020, the
100th anniversary of women’s right to vote.
Graph (description & meaning)
-
On reservations, the lack of basic household equipment (such as plumbing or telephone service) is
ten times (and sometimes more) the national average.
-
Native, Latino and Black communities are poorer than White and Asian ones on average.
-
These figures confirm the comments made in the BBC report, that on the whole, the Native
American population is indeed poverty-stricken.
Vocabulary :
English
Poverty-stricken
Pitiful
change
currency
Narrow down to
(one)
To have had one’s
run
Put oneself out
A soft spot
French
English
A household
a folding chair
French
bondage
siblings
A pursuer
servitude
frères et soeurs
Un poursuivant
Avoir fait son temps
To advocate
défendre
Se démener, faire des
pieds et des mains
pour…
Un faible (pour qq’un)
The focus is laid on
L’accent est mis sur
To gain momentum
Prendre de
l’importance
Frappé par la pauvreté
Créant un sentiment de
pitié
De la (petite) monnaie
La monnaie (nationale)
Réduire à (un)
Une famille
Une chaise pliante
To rescue
Secourir
To voice one’s
opposition
To vow
A racial slur
To speak out
Exprimer son désaccord
indigenous
Tribal
Below the poverty
line
To run for
president
Pioneer
A congresswoman
indigène
tribal
En-dessous du seuil de
pauvreté
Être candidat à
l’élection présidentielle
To rely on
S’appuyer sur, compter
sur
Un(e) pionnier (ère)
Une députée
Un outil / appareil
A device
To store (information) Stocker (de l’info)
promettre
Une injure raciale
Faire entendre sa voix
Recent events, historical & cultural references mentioned in the
documents:
-
The media often portray Native Americans as poverty-stricken, alcoholic, sad people ;
with an important rate of youth suicide. And that’s all the attention they get from the
media.
-
Young people living on reservations are fed up with this image of “the pitiful, pissed-off
Indian”. They are trying to propose more varied, more complex, and also more positive
role models for the next generation. They want to “show the world what they can do”.
-
The short story “borders” has the same message. It uses humor and a nonsensical
situation to highlight the importance of First Nations people’s cultural heritage, their
pride, and their feeling of being forgotten.
-
First Nations people don’t like to be called Native Americans because they don’t feel
part of the U.S.A. For them, their lands have been stolen. They’re a proud people.
-
Sometimes “native” terms are used in a bad way; for instance, the term “redskin” which
is a demeaning term, is the name of a football team. A campaign was launched to have
it changed.
-
Women such as Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Congress woman, or Harriet
Tubman who fought during the Civil war, played an important part in American history.
That’s why, nowadays, people are fighting to get them on the 20 dollar bill to replace
president Jackson. But they actually got the ten, and they will have to share it.
-
Having all of our society’s memory stored on the net makes people remember less, but
some neuropsychologists claim there’s no need to worry because of the human brain’s
capacity to adapt. However, digital devices are not very reliable, so in case of a “digital
crash”, all our memory would be lost…
Key expressions (grammar, syntax, translation...)
- see BV2 proposals
Document prepared with great care by : Louis Honoré (assisted by Anthony Hurier…)