Means for Equality Martin Luther King wrote a very effective and powerful letter to those who opposed him in attempt to justify his means for equality. He really appealed to the reader’s logic, ethics, and emotions throughout the letter. His argument for the logic of the audience really stood out when addressed those who categorized him as an extremist; he listed people in history who were “extremists” these people included: Jesus, Paul, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln and a few more. What King was really saying is that they only called him extremist because what he wanted was something they were against, not because his means were extreme. His appeal to ethics was critical when he wrote about how we should only be obligated to follow the just laws and that the unjust laws can be disobeyed in an attempt to make a change. This act or lack of action is called Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience has been used many times throughout history and he uses some of these examples in his letter: Socrates, Early Christians, and the Boston Tea Party. These are effective points because his opposition probably saw these examples as acceptable, but in their eyes his form of civil disobedience was not. Martin Luther Kings appeal to emotions his strongest element and is really evident through the entire letter, when he writes about the cruelty of the Birmingham Police Department, about telling his daughter that they cannot go to the new amusement park, and many more examples. King wrote an incredibly effective letter that should break the hearts of all of its readers whether they read it at the time or are reading it