The Japanese fermenting black support in the US in the lead up and during WW2

elkarlo

Banned
I know its a typo, but "fermenting"?;)

Short answer? No. Americans - even the blue-eyed blondes of the Bund - were of little interest to the Axis, politically or otherwise. Non-whites, generally, were of even less interest. Non-Japanese Asians, generally, were viewed by the Japanese in the same manner the Nazis and Fascists viewed those were not "Aryans" as it was understood at the time.

Moreover, Americans of African ancestry were, unfailingly, loyal to the United States, in peacetime and wartime. There's a reason 180,000 men served in the USCTs and another 30,000 in the USN in the Civil War, for example; same deal, despite the inherent racism of the Wilson Admnistration, during WW I. Same holds true in WW II.

Best,

There were still racial problems during WWII including race riots. I'm surprised that the US got through WWII with so few domestic problems. Seeing how we were fighting racism
 
The Japanese did undertake some "Negro propaganda" operations during the war, in the belief that they would get some traction with American blacks. Despite a small amount of sympathy before the war, they basically had no success, and American blacks were overwhelmingly loyal.

The only small success they might have had was in diverting American resources. For example, the FBI believed that many African American newspapers were disloyal, in part because of the existence of the Japanese propaganda. So they wasted resources investigating.

I have some more information at my blog:

http://onetuberadio.com/2015/02/16/japanese-short-wave-negro-propaganda-operations-of-ww2/

Cool info there thanks.
 
Let's not forget that by the time WWII started it was only a decade before when the US army rolled over protesting WWI veterans in Washington for the grave sin of asking for an advance on their benefits. Also, let's not forget that at the time the FBI had the habit of completely ruining anyone who J. Edgar Hoover got a funny feeling about. I don't think anybody in the African American community at the time had any illusions about the chances of success through the use of force.
 
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