A veteran's microphone was muted when he tried to credit Black Americans during his Memorial Day speech.
As reported by People, retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter had been invited to deliver the keynote speech at a Memorial Day ceremony hosted by the Hudson American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464 on Monday (May 31) in Hudson, Ohio.
But four minutes into his 11-minute Memorial Day speech, the 77-year-old realized that the event organizers had silenced him as he attempted to praise a group of formerly enslaved Black Americans who were some of the first people to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Civil War.
Watch the moment the veteran was silenced below:Kemter, who served in the Gulf War, decided to cite research by Yale University history professor David W. Blight in his speech.
He said: "Memorial Day was first commemorated by an organized group of Black freed slaves less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered."
The New York Times reports that he explained how a group of formerly enslaved Americans established a tribute to the Union soldiers who lost their lives at a Confederate prisoner of war camp in Charleston, South Carolina.
Kemter explained: "The ceremony is believed to have included a parade of as many as 10,000 people, including 3,000 African American schoolchildren singing the Union marching song, John Brown's Body."
"They were carrying armfuls of flowers and went to decorate at the graves," he added.
Footage of the speech, provided by Hudson Community Television, shows Kemter recognizing that his mic had fallen silent, as he incited guests to move in closer so they could hear him.
Kemter later told the Washington Post that he had first assumed he had simply been the unfortunate victim of a technical glitch.
And in an interview with Akron Beacon Journal, Kemter said his speech was "well-received" by attendees, which made the organizer's response so disappointing.
He said: "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. This is not the same country I fought for."
Per the Akron Beacon Journal, Cindy Suchan-Rothgery - who co-organized the event with James Garrison - admitted that the veteran's message was muted for two minutes because it "was not relevant to our program for the day," saying the "theme of the day was honoring Hudson veterans."
Suchan-Rothgery failed to add who exactly had cut the mic.
The president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, Cindy Suchan, also revealed that Kempter had been "asked to "modify his speech, and he chose not to do that."
An investigation has now been launched into the incident, and the head of the American Legion of Ohio is calling for the two organizers to resign.
