"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is widely regarded as a powerful defense of nonviolent protest. What does King believe is the relationship between non-violence and freedom? What has this letter taught you about freedom, justice, and the power of words? Respond in 2 well-developed paragraphs, citing at least 3 pieces of textual evidence

I think that the letter deserves the accolades it has. King transcends ideas of race to include humanity. The restraint that Dr. King shows throughout the “Letter” – using as many appeals to logos as he does to pathos; refraining from drawing distinctions between races; justifying his extremism in philosophical terms – is not only an effective tool for convincing his audience. It is also a reflection of his optimistic belief that all men are connected. Early on, he states this explicitly, arguing, “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (170). His variety of tactics and allusions only validates his belief that all men are connected to one another, and by extension, are responsible for one another. In decrying the pernicious influence that groups have on individuals, he suggests that harmony might come if we accept our place not in limited groups – southerners vs. northerners, black vs. white – but instead in the community of universal humanity and “brotherhood” (185).

- "a nonrestrictive clause functions as a modifier to a noun (that is an object, person or concept). these clauses can be described by the following three options: it is set off by comas, it contains a subject and a verbs and it adds nonessential information to the sentence.

for example, in "here is bill gates, who confounded microsoft software company" we can identify "who confounded microsoft software company" as a nonrestrictive clause modifying the noun bill gates. this clause can be describes as a nonrestrictive clause because it is separated by a comma, it adds nonessential information to identify who bill gates is and it must contain both a subject (who) and a verb (confounded)."