Let the people decide by Todd Moye, discusses the regional upheaval in Sunflower County in Mississippi Delta. The book discusses the various groups that played crucial roles in the struggle for freedom in the County. The County has been chosen to show how the civil rights movement inspired people to fight for their rights. To shed more light, this article discusses how the struggle for freedom in the 1950s and 1960s differed with those of the 1980s. It investigated the dynamism that have changed and those that have remained as well as the extent to which the 1950s and 1860s movements impacted the 1980s freedom struggle.

In the book Let the people decide by Todd Moye, the struggles for racial democracy in Sunflower County in the 1980s differed from the ones between the 1950s and the 1960s in several ways. It is important to state that the freedom struggles in the 1950s, and the 1960s was typified by trials, tribulations, and triumphs of persons and firms that sought to alter the existing system in the Sunflower County. Individuals, such as Martin Luther King, Faninie Lou, Medgar Evers, Bob Moses and organizations, such as the NAACP, SCLC, and CORE attempted to change the existing system in the county. Additionally, some lesser individuals during this period put their efforts in seeking to cause political democracy, educational opportunities, and economic equality in Sunflower County. In fact, they acted as the means of their community’s destiny, something that they held could be attained in a few years to come. Moreover, before the 1980s, some people formed a massive resistance that was typified by the civil rights movements’ activities in Sunflower County. For example, Robert Patterson organized the Citizens’ Council of Indianola, which became a respectable southern institution of obstruction in the years after the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

The council engaged in activities that were sharper than those of the Ku Klux Klan activities, an organization that utilized uncivilized activities. It is worrying to note that the council frustrated every effort made by the African-Americans by incorporating themselves in the political, administrative, and governmental issues of the county. In the 1950s, there were boycotts and the blacks were subordinate to the whites. The freedom fighters focused on fostering self-worth among people who have been subjected to discrimination and were made to feel worthless in the country. In fact, this is one of the most significant endowments conferred by the civil rights movement in Sunflower County. Besides, the advocates of the rights of the black people used business tactics against persons who were against the activities of the Citizens’ Council. However, the struggle for freedom was not a smooth path and Moye has outlined many incidences of physical violence that were used to frighten the civil rights advocates and those who were providing aid to the activists.

On the other hand, the struggle for independence in the 1980s was fought by the middle class who had more in common with the whites. This implies that the chances of reaching some form of the agreement were higher than the earlier period. Since the two groups were correlating, they could find areas in which they could agree concerning controlling the places they lived in. It is surprising to note that during this period there was a distance between the black middle and the working class, which, I feel might have interfered with the blacks’ struggle for independence. Workers continued to fight for their rights with less success, and they ended up accepting contracts that did not satisfy them. During this period, the county leadership was comprised of the blacks and the whites who tried to utilize all means to neutralize the rebelling workers. Since the governing authorities that composed of the blacks and the whites came to the consensus that labor issues did not fall under the civil rights issues, they had not alternative. This was meant to deter the civil right movement activists from advocating for the rights of the workers and suggested that employees who were dissatisfied could seek the greener pasture anywhere else.

It is imperative to state that there were some dynamics that changed. First, the magnitude of oppression was reduced as well as the composition of the council. In fact, the Citizens’ Council was composed of the middle class, which had similar to that of the whites. This was contrary to the ones of the 1950s and 1960s, which was made up of people with various qualifications. Another thing that significantly changed is the issues that related to labor. In the 1950s and 1960s, they were categorized as civil rights issues, but in the 1980s, they ceased to be because of the agreement that was reached by the governing council to reduce the rebellion of the workers. Additionally, there was an increased distance between the black middle class and the working, something that might have hindered the process of the struggle for freedom.

However, there is some dynamism that did not change. For instance, workers continued to be exploited, and they were underpaid in the 1980s. According to Moye, the new industries that came to invest in the County offered low-paying jobs, which were similar to the ones that were used on plantations in the 1950s and the 1960s. Nevertheless, the working conditions in the 1980s were similar to the ones provided in the 1950s and the 1960s. As a result, there were protests by the workers, but the council did not support them.

It is vital to state that the struggles of the 1980s were significantly built upon the movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, the civil rights movement formed the basis that was used by the workers to fight for their rights in the 1980s. Although workers did not achieve much because labor issues were disregarded as the civil rights issues, the workers were able to air their grievances to the relevant authorities. Moreover, the Citizens’ Council traces its origin to the movements of the 1950s and 1960s. The council was initially formed by people from all social classes, but the 1980s council was changed to include only the middle class. In this view, most of the activities that took place in the 1980s trace their origins in the 1950s and 1960s movements.

In conclusion, Let the people decide is a useful book that can be used to understand the civil rights movements in the USA and the role it played in fighting for the black freedom. Readers also gain some helpful insight concerning the prevalent discrimination of the black people by the white and how the African-Americans were exposed to violence. Thus, I suggest that it should be read by all the black people.