Read the following excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham," then answer the question.
(1) 1 guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait. (2) But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and
drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when
you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity, when you see
the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers
smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society, when
you suddenly find your tongue twisted and
your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your
six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been
advertised on television, and see
tears welling up in her little eyes when she is
told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority
begin to form in her little mental sky, and
see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously
developing a bitterness toward white people...-then you will understand
why we find it difficult to wait. (3) There
comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over,
and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the
bleakness of corroding
despair.
(4) I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate
and unavoidable impatience."
In sentence 3 (reproduced below), the writer is considering deleting the underlined text.
There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding
despair.
Should the writer keep or delete the underlined text? (5 points)
Keep it, because it appeals to the audience's emotions and experiences.
Keep it, because it provides detail necessary to the writer's line of reasoning.
Delete it, because it only repeats sentiments already expressed by the writer.
Delete it, because it deviates from the consistent tone established in the passage.