'Rhetorical Analysis Of My Dear Fellow Clergymen'

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote many letters from jail. All of the letters presented wise thoughts for the people but his letter to clergymen stands out in all of them. He used rhetorical appeal to establish his credibility on the subject of injustice and discrimination through ethos. The letter starts with “My Dear Fellow Clergymen” which indicated him being apart and on the same level as of clergymen. This makes him equal to them and sending across his message becomes easier. By saying that “I am here because I have organizational ties here but more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here”, he assures the reader that he had researched on the topic. After then he talks about his association with Southern Christian Leadership Conference which helps the readers to make up their mind that the author is not an ordinary man and is credible. Then he appeals to pathos by talking about the trials of black men. He then talks about the discrimination of black men by police as well as people. He used powerful words like “vicious mobs” and also employed parallelism by saying “lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim”. He pictures the hard times of black people through these sentences. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized on sentence structure and lot of imagery which portrays the pain he has for his people. It

He also described the church as a White man’s religious space by talking about the authenticity of the church if right measures are not taken. Kings message here conveys a sense of urgency as well as panic that behavior of people can change for Church as well. He used phrases like “judgment of God” to tell the reader about the dismissal of God regarding this justice. It produces the sense of fear (Pathos) in a reader and hints the reader to change if he does not want God’s