Army Lieutenant Colonel Barnard Kemter’s microphone was deliberately turned off during the portion of his Memorial Day speech where he discussed the holiday’s history.
What We Know:
- In 1865, a month after their emancipation, a group of black freedmen traveled to a mass grave in Charleston, South Carolina, to give a proper burial to the more than 200 Union soldiers resting there. Memorial Day is believed to be a result of this historic event.
- Kemter, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, was selected by Hudson, Ohio, to be the keynote speaker at their Memorial Day parade. Cindy Suchan, president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary and event organizer, gave Kemter no guidelines for his speech. He decided to use his speech as an opportunity to educate community members on the history of the holiday.
- Kemter provided Suchan and other organizers with a copy of his speech a few days prior to the event. He was asked to remove the portion of his speech detailing the history of Memorial Day but was not given specifics.
- The microphone cut out right as Kemter began to discuss how freed slaves exhumed the bodies of soldiers. Initially, he suspected it to be a technical glitch, but it was revealed by an audio engineer at the event that there was no malfunction. Suchan admitted that either herself or Jim Garrison, adjutant of the American Legion Post 464, turned down the audio.
- Event staff affirmed that section of the speech was not relevant to the theme of honoring veterans. “I was very disappointed that someone would choose to censor my speech,” Kemter said to The Washington Post.
- The American Legion Department of Ohio has called for Garrison’s resignation. In a statement issued by Department Commander Roger Friend, they stated, “The American Legion Department of Ohio does not hold space for members, veterans, or families of veterans who believe that censoring black history is acceptable behavior.”
Hudson’s City Council and Mayor issued a statement deploring the behavior. They said, “Veterans have done everything we have asked of them during their service to this country, and this tarnished what should have been a celebration of their service.”
