An investigation is underway after a veteran’s microphone was cut off as his Memorial Day speech ventured into how former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina helped start the holiday when they dug up the remains of 200 Union soldiers to give them a proper burial shortly after the Civil War ended.
The Associated Press
HUDSON, Ohio Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony turned off a speaker’s microphone when the former U.S. Army officer began talking about how freed Black slaves had honored fallen soldiers soon after the Civil War.
Retired Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter, who spent 30 years in the Army and served in the Persian Gulf War, said he included the story in his speech because he wanted to share the history of how Memorial Day originated.
“I find it interesting that [the American Legion] … would take it upon themselves to censor my speech and deny me my First Amendment right to [freedom of] speech,” Kemter told the Akron Beacon Journal of the USA TODAY Network.
HUDSON, Ohio (AP) Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony turned off a speaker’s microphone when the former U.S. Army officer began talking about how freed Black slaves had honored fallen soldiers soon after the Civil War.