Text #2: martin luther king, jr. "letter from birmingham jail"
my dear fellow clergymen:
while confined here in birmingham city jail, i came across your recent statement calling my
present activities "unwise and untimely." i feel that you are men of genuine good will and that
your criticisms are sincerely set forth, i want to try to answer your statement in what i hope will be
patient and reasonable in terms.
i think i should indicate why i am here in birmingham, since you have been influenced by the
view which argues against "outsiders coming in.", along with several members of my staff, am here
because i was invited here. i am here because i have organizational ties here.
but more basically, i am in birmingham because injustice is here. just as the prophets of the eighth
century b. c. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the lord" far beyond the boundaries of
their home towns, and just as the apostle paul left his village of tarsus and carried the gospel of jesus
christ to the far corners of the greco-roman world, so am i compelled to carry the gospel of freedom
beyond my own home town. like paul, i must constantly respond to the macedonian call for aid.
technique(s):
is it pathos logos or ethos