Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter to Priests from Birmingham Jail, King Jr. uses the rhetorical appeal of ethics to establish credibility that racial discrimination and injustices occur. King's letter begins with “My dear fellow priests,” he explains that this is trying to say that as people all are equal to priests. King Jr's message is that he is no less than them and they are no better than him. King continues: “I'm here because I have organizational ties here. But more fundamentally, I'm in Birmingham because there is injustice here." King explains that he has credibility based on injustice, not because he is accepted by white privilege, he has credibility because King Jr is well educated on the issue. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay King's Rhetorical Appeals Through Ethics and Pathos King Jr wrote: “Jesus was not an extremist for love…was not Amos an extremist for justice…was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel … was not Martin Luther an extremist… and John Bunyan… and Abraham Lincoln… and Thomas Jefferson.” King Jr's appeal to logos in this quote actually shows that it has an impact on his written audience, the clergymen King JR important historical and religious figures such as Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, and Thomas Jefferson, making the point if those people were doing the right thing, then King Jr. appeals pathos to human emotions and encourages priests and citizens to put an end to the racism and hatred. King Jr appeals to pathos by emphasizing the need for urgency by bringing the audience into the letter using the second person. King Jr's letter expresses his opinion on the praise that some were giving to the Birmingham police force, addressing them directly with what he saw in the situation. King continues, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization serving every Southern state, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. We have about eighty-five affiliate organizations throughout the South and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. We often share personnel, educational and financial resources with our affiliates.” King Jr's purpose in the introduction is to establish credibility as a member of the United States of America by attempting to demonstrate that he holds as much, if not much more, knowledge based on racial injustice and discrimination as the clergy. King Jr appeals to pathos when he shows the trials his people have gone through due to racial injustice and discrimination. King Jr tries to make them feel what people have gone through regarding racial injustice and discrimination. King shows this by using the lines: "When have you seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at will", "when have you seen hateful policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters." King Jr's jokes use incendiary language such as "vicious mobs" and parallels such as "lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at will". King uses this type of language and sentence structure, making you imagine, feeling what King Jr had to witness to his friends and family during those difficult times. Throughout the paragraph King Jr shows us how to use this type of sentence structure and lots of imagery, the audience begins to feel what it would be like to be in King's position, feeling the pain and problems that have occurred..