Michael Leff and Ebony A. Utley's article "Instrumental and Constitutive Rhetoric in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"" details how Martin Luther King Jr. used ethos to create two distinct messages for two different audiences in a single letter. The authors explain how the letter is more than a list of refutations aimed at the clergy of Birmingham, Alabama, it is about creating a persona that is relatable to moderate whites while also giving his African American "eavesdropping" audience an example of how to act and take action during this time of civil injustice. We will examine how Martin Luther King Jr. becomes relatable to moderate whites in America and how he uses ethos as a persuasive tool to have African Americans act like him. …show more content…
The authors explain that King “grounds his identity in the religious, intellectual, and political value of the American tribe, and it enacts a form of agency that sustains connection between author and reader even in the presence of disagreement” (47). This is a powerful tool in rhetoric because it makes the rhetor a person that is not too different from the reader. This can ease any tensions that may occur from any preconceived notions that King may have different morals, values, and mental capacities even though his skin color is different. Internal similarities can outweigh external differences, and it gives King’s words additional power and meaning by making himself relatable; creating ethos. While King was creating a relatable persona for a white audience, he was also being a mentor and leader the African American