RFK Speech Vocabulary

Part A:

Paragraph 4: Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

In paragraph 4, what does compassion mean?

• a feeling of hatred

• a feeling of sympathy

• an action in response to violence

• trying to work together

Read paragraph.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

In this sentence, the word ____________ provides a clue to the meaning of compassion.

• Paragraph 3: We can move in that directions as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

• What does the word polarization mean in paragraph 3?

• a strong division

• to bring together

• a large amount of people

The word lawlessness includes the suffix less, which means "without." What does lawlessness mean in paragraph 7?

• No care for the law

• Paying attention to the law

• Enforcing the law

Read the dictionary entry.

abide [ uh-bahyd ] v

1. to remain; continue; stay:, 2. to live in, 3. to continue with a certain attitude.

Which definition most closely matches the way the word abide is used in paragraph 10?

• Definition 1

• Definition 2

• Definition 3

According to the footnote, which of the following is the definition of despair?

• a Greek playwright known for his poetic language

• to no longer have any hope or believe that a situation will improve or change

• to stay or live somewhere