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Letter to Birmingham

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Have you ever seen an injustice that you wanted to correct or fix but you were to scared of consequences? Well Martin Luther King was not one of those people who didn’t do something because of the fear for consequences. He went to jail for protesting an injustice that was happening to African Americans everywhere. While he was in jail he decided to write a letter to his fellow clergymen answering their criticisms and explaining his reasons for being in jail. He uses the methods of ethos pathos and logos to explain why his method of non violent and peaceful protests would help further their cause. Martin luther king uses examples of ethos in his letter in multiple ways. In the beginning of his letter he is answering one of his fellow clergymen’s criticism of why he was in birmingham leading a protest which ended him in jail. His response was “I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all the communities and states.i cannot sit idly by in Alanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham”(p1). This is an example of ethos because it shows the right and wrong of the situation, the wrong is being in the same state where an injustice is happening and not doing anything about it. Another example of ethos is when he was answering yet another clergymen’s criticism oon how his method of protest is considered extremist. He responds with “Was Jesus not an extremist for love? “ Love your enemies,bless them that curse you,do good to them that hate you……” .Was not Amos an extremist for justice “Let the justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream”(pg7). this is an example of ethos because it uses the credibility of those people to persuade his clergymen to see his point of view. Pathos is the method of using our emotions to help make a point. in the letter martin uses pathos when talking about some of the horrible injustices that

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