Yet another official has resigned after a veteran's mic cut out while credited Black Americans in a Memorial Day speech.
Per NBC News, the chair of the Memorial Day parade committee and president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary Cindy Suchan confirmed that she has stepped down from her post after last week's ceremony.
This comes a week after the resignation of fellow official Jim Garrison, the adjutant of American Legion Post 464.
Take a look at the speech in the video below:The controversy began on Friday, June 4, when retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter delivered a Memorial Day speech to fellow Legionnaires, in which he discussed the origins of the holiday.
Kemter spoke about how freed Black slaves honored the fallen Union soldiers who fought to emancipate them in the American Civil War, by reburying around 200 Union soldiers found a mass grave in Charleston, South Carolina.
But as he did so, officials cut the volume on his mic, censoring him for approximately two minutes. Per ABC News, Suchan later admitted that either she or Garrison were responsible.
Suchan said she had reviewed the veteran's speech several days prior to the ceremony, and asked him to omit the section dealing with slavery due to its perceived lack of relevance to the subject at hand.
ABC reports that Kemter maintained that he had not seen Suchan's suggested revisions in time to redraft his speech, and added that he was disappointed that his microphone was turned off.
Per the above publication, the department commander for the Ohio American Legion Roger Friend later commented on the incident by stating:
"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."
Friend added: "[Suchan and Garrison] knew exactly when to turn the volume down and when to turn it back up."
Meanwhile, Hudson's mayor and City Council said in a statement: "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."
As a result of the controversy, American Legion officials in Ohio have also suspended the post's charter.
