One Year: 1942 | 6. The Black-Japanese Axis

Slow Burn

Slate Podcasts

News, Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Politics

4.6 • 25.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1942, federal officials targeted a group of Black Americans who were allegedly hoping for a Japanese invasion. They uncovered a plot that included stockpiles of weapons and secret passwords—but was any of it true? This week, Joel Anderson tells the story of a shadowy organization in East St. Louis, Illinois, the group’s mysterious leader, and an alleged conspiracy against America during World War II. This episode of One Year was produced by Evan Chung, Sophie Summergrad, Sam Kim, Joel Anderson, Sol Werthan, and Josh Levin. Derek John is executive producer of narrative podcasts and Merritt Jacob is senior technical director. Slate Plus members get to hear more about the making of One Year. Get access to extra episodes, listen to the show without any ads, and support One Year by signing up for Slate Plus for just $15 for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spark your creativity with the Sims. Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative
0:07.0	and you have to go in search of your creative spark again. Maybe this is catching up with creative
0:11.9	friends, experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe.
0:16.0	And thanks to The Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.
0:21.0	Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free.
0:27.0	Hey, this is Josh Levine, the host of one year. This is our season finale so thanks for sticking with us for all six
0:35.4	episodes about 1942. This week I'm going to turn things over to my slate
0:40.4	colleague Joel Anderson.
0:42.7	And just a quick warning before we began.
0:45.2	This episode includes descriptions of racist violence.
0:49.6	In September 1942, a 32-year-old black man took the witness stand in a federal courtroom in East
0:55.9	St. Louis, Illinois.
0:57.8	All the jurors knew when they came in that day was that they'd be hearing about something highly
1:01.6	confidential. But what this man was saying was almost
1:04.9	unbelievable. He was exposing a vast conspiracy about an imminent Japanese invasion.
1:11.5	I'll tell you how it was explained to me that they would come across the water and
1:15.8	get us weakened down and after we weakened down that's the time we was supposed to rise up.
1:22.0	The people who were supposed to rise up. The people who were supposed to rise up were black Americans,
1:26.0	and there was evidence that the plans were already underway.
1:30.0	A week earlier, FBI agents had arrested two men driving across the Mississippi River, on a bridge that connected East St Louis was St Louis, Missouri.
1:40.0	In the back of their car was a stash of army rifles and ammunition.
1:45.0	Now those men were in court, along with other people who joined up with their organization.
	...

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