Which meaning of persecution most closely matches its meaning in the following passage (paragraph 14)? I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Answer choices for the above question

A. | noun | hostile or ill treatment

B. | noun | persistent annoyance

C. | verb | to chase another person

D. | verb | to treat someone poorly