Name: ______

Date: ______Block: ______

The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 1

Rameck – “Ma”

Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. What did Rameck call his grandmother, with whom he lived for most of his childhood?

  1. Granny
  2. Mama
  3. Ma
  4. Grams

_____ 2. Why didn’t Rameck feel as secure with his mother as he did with his grandmother?

  1. His mother beat him.
  2. His mother would leave with no warning.
  3. His mother was a drug addict.
  4. His mother was suicidal.

_____ 3. Why had Rameck’s mother wanted to get pregnant when she was still in high school?

  1. She was afraid her boyfriend would leave her and she thought having a baby would force him to stay.
  2. She hated living in the suburbs and wanted to attend a school for pregnant women that was in Newark.
  3. She wanted to get back at her mother for giving her an unhappy childhood.
  4. She had a friend who was unable to have children and wanted to have a baby to give to her friend to adopt.

_____ 4. In what grade did Rameck join the “gifted and talented” program at his school?

  1. First grade
  2. Second grade
  3. Third grade
  4. Fourth grade

_____ 5. How did Rameck’s mother approach his academic performance?

  1. She did not seem to care what grade he got.
  2. She told him to do his best, and if his best was a C, that was good enough for her.
  3. She would not accept anything less than an A.
  4. She was ashamed of him for failing all of his classes.

_____ 6. What happened to Rameck when his mother enrolled him in a Catholic school?

  1. He excelled because he was being challenged on a regular basis.
  2. He started getting harassed for being one of the few black kids in the school.
  3. He became disruptive because he already knew most of the material the teacher was teaching.
  4. The classes were too difficult, and he fell behind.

_____ 7. When Rameck was a little boy, where did he think his father lived?

  1. In jail
  2. In his car
  3. In New York City
  4. In an apartment just down the street

_____ 8. What advice did Rameck’s dad give him when he saw him hanging out with the wrong crowd?

  1. He told him to always watch his back.
  2. He told him he’d better be able to trust the guys he hung out with.
  3. He warned Rameck not to end up like he did, addicted to drugs and watching his friends die every day.
  4. He told him to always carry a gun to protect himself.

_____ 9. What career had Rameck’s mother wanted to pursue before she got pregnant?

  1. She had wanted to be a court stenographer.
  2. She had wanted to be a midwife.
  3. She had wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
  4. She had wanted to be a police officer.

_____ 10. What was the first job Rameck ever had?

  1. Flipping burgers at McDonald’s.
  2. Sweeping hair off the floor of a barbershop.
  3. Washing cars at a local car wash.
  4. Pumping gas at a gas station

_____ 11. With what extracurricular activity did Rameck become involved when he was in middle school?

  1. Theatre
  2. Baseball
  3. Basketball
  4. Speech and debate

_____ 12. How did Rameck get the $150 for pictures for his acting portfolio?

  1. His father gave him the money.
  2. His mother gave him the money.
  3. He earned it by working extra shifts at work.
  4. His grandmother gave him the money.

_____ 13. Why didn’t Ma want Rameck to keep the $150 at his house?

  1. She was afraid he would lose it.
  2. She was afraid his mother would convince him to give it to her.
  3. She was afraid he would blow it on something else.
  4. She was afraid his father would ask him if he could borrow some to buy drugs.

_____ 14. How did Rameck end up spending the $150?

  1. He gave it to his mother to pay to have the electricity in their apartment turned back on.
  2. He got his pictures taken for his portfolio.
  3. He gave it to his father.
  4. He bought a new pair of shoes.

_____ 15. Where did Rameck start high school?

  1. Plainfield High
  2. University High
  3. Saint Mary’s Catholic High School
  4. He was home schooled.

Name: ______

Date: ______Block: ______

The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 2

Rameck – “Caged”

Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. Where did Rameck and his boys from Plainfield usually hang out?

  1. At the skating rink
  2. At the park
  3. At Rameck’s house
  4. Behind the Clinton school

_____ 2. What type of reputation did Rameck and his friends have on the streets?

  1. They were known for beating people up.
  2. They were known for helping out around the neighborhood.
  3. They were known for trafficking drugs.
  4. They were known for shoplifting.

_____ 3. Why did Rameck and his friends beat up the crackhead behind the school?

  1. The guy had stolen the drugs from one of Rameck’s friends.
  2. The guy had broken his promise to not smoke behind the school and they were teaching him a lesson.
  3. Rameck and his friends wanted to steal his drugs.
  4. Rameck and his friends had witnessed the guy try to sell drugs to a middle school student.

_____ 4. What weapon did Rameck use on the crackhead to impress his friends?

  1. A gun
  2. A knife
  3. A broken beer bottle
  4. A baseball bat

_____ 5. What were Rameck and his friends arrested for following the incident with the crackhead?

  1. Attempted murder
  2. Assault
  3. Drug trafficking
  4. Possession of a deadly weapon

_____ 6. How many days did Rameck have to spend in jail as a result of his arrest?

  1. Two days
  2. Four days
  3. Seven days
  4. Ten days

_____ 7. What were Rameck’s Plainfield friends trying to pressure him to do?

  1. They wanted him to confess that he was the one who stabbed the crackhead.
  2. They wanted him to take sole responsibility for beating up the crackhead.
  3. They wanted him to testify that there had been another group of guys with him that night.
  4. They wanted him to say that the crackhead had attacked them first and they only went after him out of self-defense.

_____ 8. Why did the judge end up throwing out the case?

  1. The defense lawyer kept missing the court date.
  2. The crackhead never showed up.
  3. There was not enough evidence to convict anyone.
  4. The prosecuting lawyer kept missing the court date.

_____ 9. How did this incident affect Ramek’s relationship with his friends from Plainfield?

  1. They became closer than ever.
  2. They hated each other.
  3. Rameck stopped hanging out with them and started hanging out with George and Sam instead.
  4. They laughed it off and continued to hang out, the same as always.

Name: ______

Date: ______Block: ______

The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 3

Rameck – “Summer Odyssey”

Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. Why were Rameck, Sam, and George going to Seton Hall in June instead of August?

  1. They had found summer jobs there.
  2. They had been accepted into the Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Plus program which provided new students with some remediation so they would be up to par with everyone else.
  3. They decided to enroll in summer school to get ahead.
  4. They had found a great apartment and knew it wouldn’t be available if they waited until August.

_____ 2. Why had Rameck and his friend Ahi formed a protest against the Board of Education while they were in high school?

  1. They protested the budget cuts that eliminated extracurricular activities like theatre.
  2. They protested the salary increases for administrators when the school was falling into disrepair.
  3. They protested the lack of a multicultural curriculum – there were no classes in African-American or Hispanic history even though most of the students at University High were minority students.
  4. They protested the racist attitudes many of the faculty exhibited toward the achievement of minorities.

_____ 3. Who was Rameck’s roommate?

  1. Sam
  2. George
  3. A guy from Boston
  4. He had his own room

_____ 4. How did Rameck feel about the structure of the summer session at Seton Hall?

  1. He felt like he was given too much freedom to goof off.
  2. He felt that the program provided the right amount of leisure time and academic time.
  3. He felt like he was in a boot camp, since the program dictated what he did for nearly every hour of every weekday.
  4. He felt there wasn’t enough to do for fun.

_____ 5. Which of the following was NOT one of the ways Carla Dickson said students could make a good impression on professors?

  1. Go to class on time.
  2. Ask lots of questions.
  3. Sit in the first two rows.
  4. Participate in class discussions.

_____ 6. How did Rameck lead a mini-rebellion against the structure of the summer program?

  1. He organized a walk out in one of his classes.
  2. He organized a dorm-wide “lights on” at midnight when the lights were supposed to have been out for two hours.
  3. He planned on making a bulletin board about the program, depicting the students as “mental prisoners.”
  4. He had movie night in his room during hours when television watching was forbidden.

_____ 7. Who was hurt the most by Rameck’s rebellion?

  1. George
  2. Sam
  3. Carla Dickson
  4. Rameck’s mother

_____ 8. What honor did Rameck receive at a banquet at the end of the summer session?

  1. The chance to sit at the senator’s table
  2. An academic scholarship for outstanding academic performance
  3. A certificate for most improved
  4. A medical terms dictionary presented by Carla Dickson

Name: ______

Date: ______Block: ______

The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 4

Rameck – “A Different World”

Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. Who was one of the first people Rameck had visit him during his freshman year at Seton Hall?

  1. His mother
  2. His grandmother
  3. His stepbrother Michael
  4. His high school girlfriend

_____ 2. What kind of reaction did Rameck get from his classmates when he got into an argument with his visitor?

  1. Everyone ignored him because arguments were fairly common in Rameck’s dorm.
  2. George and Sam jumped in and pulled the guys apart.
  3. All the guys on their floor started watching them and cheering them on.
  4. They attracted the attention of mainly white boys who saw the fight as a fulfillment of a stereotype they had of African-Americans.

_____ 3. What did Rameck do when the white boy refused to leave when Rameck told him to?

  1. He simply walked away and slammed the door to his room.
  2. He pulled out his knife on the guy.
  3. He picked up the guy and slammed him on the floor, knocking him unconscious.
  4. He punched the guy in the stomach and said, “That’ll teach you!”

_____ 4. What happened when the South Orange Police came to confront Rameck?

  1. He escaped out of his dorm window and ran away.
  2. They arrested him.
  3. He started crying and begged them not to get him kicked out of school.
  4. He found out the boy’s mother did not want to press charges, so he was free to go.

_____ 5. What happened when Rameck had to go before a board of university administrators?

  1. They gave him a slap on the wrist and told him it had better not happen again.
  2. They put him on six-month probation, threatening to expel him if he got into any more trouble during that time.
  3. They kicked him out of Seton Hall.
  4. They suspended him from Seton Hall for a semester.

_____ 6. What did Rameck do to end up in trouble again before the end of his freshman year?

  1. He got into another fight.
  2. He stole a sweatshirt from the campus bookstore to impress some friends.
  3. He stole a textbook he needed for a class.
  4. He cheated on a test.

_____ 7. What did Rameck learn from reading Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys?

  1. He would have to work twice as hard as any white man to receive half the recognition.
  2. Black boys need white mentors to help them be successful.
  3. Black boys need strong black role models to keep them from looking to the streets for lessons on how to be men.
  4. Black boys rarely enter the professional world because they are not exposed to it growing up.

_____ 8. What did Rameck want to do as a result of reading that book?

  1. Start an organization that sent mentors to students in Newark schools
  2. Become a recruiter for Seton Hall and target Newark students
  3. Try harder to excel so that he didn’t become just another street statistic
  4. Go back to his old neighborhood and tell the kids there that they needed to find positive male role models or they’d never get off the streets.

_____ 9. What does Ujima, the name of Rameck’s organization, mean?

  1. Collective work and responsibility
  2. Many strands, one cord
  3. With vision comes responsibility.
  4. You must give in order to receive.

_____ 10. What types of things did Ujima provide for the community?

  1. They sent college students to elementary schools to tutor students.
  2. They sent volunteers to soup kitchens.
  3. They helped refurbish buildings that had fallen into disrepair.
  4. They offered free martial arts lessons to students who wanted an alternative to hanging out on the streets.

Name: ______

Date: ______Block: ______

The Pact – Reading Guide

Rameck on GIVING BACK

Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. According to Rameck, what does a person need to enrich another person’s life?

  1. Money
  2. Status
  3. Influence
  4. Passion and purpose

_____ 2. Besides starting Ujima, what else did Rameck, Sam, and George do to give back to the community?

  1. They volunteered with Doctors Without Borders.
  2. They tutored kids after school.
  3. They started the Three Doctors Foundation.
  4. They donated a third of their annual salaries to charity.

_____ 3. Who does Rameck say could have kept him off the streets growing up?

  1. A positive male role model
  2. A better home situation
  3. A better neighborhood
  4. More money

_____ 4. According to Rameck, what was one reason you should give?

  1. You’ll receive recognition for your good deeds.
  2. You’ll gain the respect of those around you.
  3. You often receive when you give.
  4. You’ll be a good example for those around you.

_____ 5. Who did Rameck cite as an example of someone whose gifts to someone kept multiplying?

  1. By making a difference in George’s life, his third grade teacher ended up affecting the lives of Rameck and Sam as well.
  2. By making a difference in Rameck’s life, his grandmother ended up affecting the lives of George and Sam as well.
  3. By making a difference in Sam’s life, his mother ended up affecting the lives of Rameck and George as well.
  4. By making a difference in Sam’s, George’s, and Rameck’s lives, Carla Dickson ended up affecting the lives of all of their patients as well.

Name: ______

Date: ______Block: ______

The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 4

Rameck – “Lovesick”

Directions: Write the letter in the blank of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. What was the first conflict with Rameck’s relationship with Kay?

  1. She told him she was pregnant, and he broke up with her.
  2. They got engaged and planned on getting married after he graduated from medical school.
  3. She ended up cheating on him with another guy.
  4. She broke up with him because he didn’t have enough time for her.

_____ 2. Why did Rameck and Kay keep breaking up and getting back together?

  1. He had a hard time trusting her.
  2. She had a hard time trusting him.
  3. Rameck kept cheating on her.
  4. Kay kept cheating on him.

_____ 3. What did Rameck plan on doing to get Kay back?

  1. He wanted to put together a scrapbook of the time they had spent together.
  2. He wanted to propose to her and ask if she could wait for him until he finished medical school.
  3. He wanted to beat up her newest boyfriend to prove he was tougher.
  4. He wanted to quit medical school and become a teacher so he could marry her and give her the attention she deserved.

_____ 4. Where was Rameck offered a job after he graduated from Seton Hall?

  1. At a medical lab as a lab assistant
  2. At a university as a custodian
  3. At a veterinarian’s clinic as an assistant
  4. At a high school as a biology teacher

_____ 5. How did Kay respond when Rameck told her he wanted her back?

  1. She agreed to give it a second chance.
  2. She hung up on him.
  3. She told Rameck she had fallen for her new boyfriend and wanted to try to make it work with him.
  4. She told Rameck that she needed to be single for a while to “find herself.”

_____ 6. What did Rameck tell Sam and George about his relationship problems with Kay?

  1. Rameck told them nothing – he was too proud to let them know he was hurting.
  2. Rameck told them everything – they were there to offer shoulders for him to cry on and a listening ear.
  3. Rameck told them that she had begged him to take her back, but he had refused.
  4. Rameck told them that he was glad he and Kay were no longer together because she was no good for him.

The Pact – Reading Guide Cycle 5

Rameck – “D.W.B.”

Directions: Circle the letter of the best answer to the questions below.

_____ 1. Why did the cops pull Rameck over on Nov. 10, 1996?

  1. For no other reason than that he was a black man driving a car.
  2. He was driving drunk.
  3. He ran a red light.
  4. He failed to signal when he changed lanes.

_____ 2. What did the cops find when they searched his car?

  1. A sack of marijuana
  2. A gun
  3. A fishing knife the size of a pencil
  4. A switchblade

_____ 3. What were the charges with which Rameck was booked?