A military veteran’s mic was intentionally cut off while he delivered a moving speech acknowledging Black Americans’ role in creating the Memorial Day holiday — and folks are justifiably outraged.
The American Legion of Ohio is upset about how retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter was treated during his speech Monday during a Memorial Day ceremony at an Ohio cemetery.
Kemter was about halfway through his speech when he started discussing how freed Black enslaved people were involved in an early event honoring Civil War dead.
At that moment, his microphone was cut off and he tapped it and requested for it to be turned back on … but it didn’t happen. The Lt. Col. powered through without the mic, and he delivered his message about Black history.
Kemter says he initially thought it was a glitch, but later learned the organizers did it intentionally because he refused to modify his speech. According to organizers, Kemter’s discussion of Black history “was not relevant to our program for the day.”
The vet says he’s disappointed they chose to censor him, and the Ohio American Legion has his back. The org wants the event organizers who cut Kemter’s mic to resign … and they’ve also warned of disciplinary action.
Honestly, the disrespect shown to Lt. Col Kemter reminds us of this classic “Forrest Gump” scene where his mic was cut as he spoke about the Vietnam War.
While the ‘Gump’ scene played funny in the movie — no one’s laughing about what happened to Kemter.
And, that’s all we have to say about that.
