We need to be brave and stand up for our beliefs, even if it is not the popular choice at the time. We need to follow our heart and not the law sometimes. We can break the law for a good cause but must be ready to suffer the punishments for the good of the cause. We must stand up and be heard when we feel the cause is good enough.
The most persuasive rhetorical strategy he uses in his letter is logos. Logos is an appeal is the strategic use of logic, claims, and evidence to convince an audience of a certain point. In paragraph fifteen King use the logos strategy when he says "one may strongly ask how can you defend breaking some laws and following others? " The answer deceit in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. So King told them that he would be the first to go with obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Here he give an example of St. Augustine who once was against the unjust laws. I would compromise with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." What king mean is that not any law we make is just and people have no choices but to obey the unjust law, but that system was coming to an end. King's presentation of the logic in his letter is clear. He shows the clergymen the two sides of the community, the one of satisfaction and the other of bitterness and hatred. In this statement he does not literally justify his motives, but rather puts the facts on the table so the audience can see that his response was the best possible. King is saying here that he could have remained neutral and allowed the Black Nationalist groups to take charge of the situation, but he did not.
The next persuasive strategy he uses is ethos. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. In his letter king use ethos, he told them that not only did he go Birmingham because he was invited but also because there was injustice.