Recap by BV2

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 : This cartoon depicts the vocal leader of an anti redskins group ( Ray Halbritter) who is
painting a redskin helmet in white to hide the logo which represents a native Indian in traditional clothes.
Meaning : The use of mascots and names about Indians creates damages on their self-identity because
they feel it like a racial slur, a racial epithet. That is the reason why several people want to fight this
denomination which is an insult for the Indian culture.
Graph (description & meaning)
Whereas national average of homes
without essential criteria like electricity,
indoor plumbing and telephone service is
less than 5%, those of houses in
reservations are more than 14% even 53%
for homes without telephone service. So
on Reservations life conditions are poor
and backward. Despite the progress of the
country, they didn’t have the means or
the will to follow.
Vocabulary :
English
remember
remind
commemoration
memories
Digital amnesia
To forget
brain
French
Se souvenir (par soi-même)
Rappeler (à qqu’un)
commémoration
les souvenirs
Mémoire numérique
oublier
cerveau
English
painful
French
Learn
history
USB stick /drive
retrospective
culture
Memorial
apprendre
L’Histoire
Clé USB
rétrospective
La culture
Un mémorial
douloureux
To store
Collective memory
tricky
The duty to
remember
Notebook
stocker
Mémoire collective
rusé
Le devoir du souvenir
Hide from your past
upheaval
intelligence
Butterfly effect
Nier notre passé
boulversement
intelligence
Effet papillon
calepin
Recent events, historical & cultural references mentioned in the
documents:
-Recently, there has been a movment led by Barbara Ortiz Howard who fights for putting a wellknown but forgotten woman (Rosa Park, Margaret Sanger, Harriet Tubman for instance) on $20 bills.
Why? Because it’s a crazy omission to have no women faces on bills. We shouldn’t forget them. The
American people will decide by voting on a website. President Obama thinks it’s a good idea.
-For more than a century, the Canadian government turned a blind eye on physical and sexual abuse
in residential schools (owned by the state, but run by the Catholic Church). Today the Prime Minister
(Justin Trudeau) apologizes and wants Pope Francis to apologize too. Is it a good idea to exhume
those painful memories ?
-Two years ago, there was the 100th anniversary of the first World War. We think it is important to
remember in order not to make the same mistake as in the past.
-In the speech he gave upon receiving the Golden Globe (and then the Academy Award) for his role
in The Revenant, Leonardo Di Caprio reminded the audience of the importance to keep in mind and
to promote the culture of the First Nations ( Golden Globe :
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/01/12/leonardo-dicaprio-golden-globe-indigenous-peoplespeech_n_8952070.html)
-A study published last year warns about the phenomenon of digital amnesia, which is the tendency
to forget information once it is stored on digital devices. Our memory will nevertheless evolve, some
scientists are not worried. We can wonder what is the limit of our brain, of our memory? In the
future, perhaps we can put our brain and all our memory on a hard-drive (or even a USB drive).
Key expressions (grammar, syntax, translation...)
- the first sitting president to take on that issue (=s’occuper du problème)
-to prejudice (=porter atteinte) native culture
-children were taken and put into white foster homes (=foyers d’accueil)
-to help them assimilate into (s’intégrer à) “white culture”
-take care of one another (=prendre soin les uns des autres)
Document prepared with great care by : ANOT Pauline, BRUN Yoann, MIGUEL Maxime,
FROMENTIN Jean et BOUILLIARD Camille