Veteran getting another chance to share speech censored on Memorial Day

The American Legion Department of Ohio on Tuesday extended an invitation for a retired U.S. Army officer to speak during a community event after his Memorial Day speech was muted while he sought to discuss the role Black people played in the origins of the holiday.

With the invite, Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter will have a chance to deliver his previous speech without interruption during the American Legion’s Buckeye Boys State, which is an event that teaches young men about government, according to The Associated Press.

Kemter was the keynote speaker during the organization’s Memorial Day event last month when his microphone was muted as he detailed the history of the holiday and shared that a group of freed Black people were among the first to honor fallen soldiers following the surrender of the Confederacy.

At the time, Kemter said that he thought that a technical malfunction contributed to the incident. The event’s organizer, Cindy Suchan, later revealed that she and Jim Garrison, who served as an adjutant of American Legion Post 464, muted Kemter’s mic because that portion of his speech “was not relevant to our program for the day.”

Suchan and Garrison have both since resigned from their roles at the American Legion.