Question

How does Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. use the appeals to credibility and logic in "Letter from Birmingham Jail" to show the ineffectiveness of the clergymen’s argument?
Respond in a paragraph with a claim, evidence, and reasoning. Be sure to have evidence and reasoning for both credibility and logic.

Answer 1

Claim: In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses appeals to credibility (ethos) and logic (logos) to undercut the clergymen’s criticisms and show their argument is ineffective. Evidence and reasoning for credibility: King establishes his moral authority and local stake—“I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” and by noting his leadership role and long struggle he demonstrates he is not an outside agitator but a principled actor; this credibility forces readers to view the clergymen’s dismissal of the protests as uninformed and hypocritical, since they lack his firsthand experience of injustice and his commitment to nonviolent principles. Evidence and reasoning for logic: King systematically dismantles their recommendations with reasoned argumentation—he explains the four steps of nonviolent action, shows that negotiation was attempted and failed, and famously rebuts the call to “wait” by asserting, “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’... This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never,’” while arguing that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”; these logical moves show that direct action was a rational, necessary response to entrenched injustice and expose the clergymen’s position as inconsistent (condemning methods while ignoring the unmet ends), thereby rendering their argument unsound.