Ohio American Legion Investigated-investigating tied to Racist Memorial Day Incident – Veterans Today | Military Foreign Affairs Policy Journal for Clandestine Services veteranstoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from veteranstoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jim Garrison, head of the American Legion post and organizer of the Memorial Day event, resigned after a "premeditated" move to "censor or suppress" a speech about Black history, according to the American Legion Department of Ohio.
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The head of an American Legion post in Ohio stepped down after he cut a veteran’s microphone during a speech Monday referencing how Black people organized the earliest Memorial Day commemoration on record, according to the veterans group. Jim Garrison resigned after he was asked by Legion officials, the American Legion Department of Ohio said in a statement Friday. The veterans group said Garrison and Cindy Suchan, chair of the Memorial Day parade committee and president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, decided to “censor” retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter in a “premeditated” move. Kemter shared his Memorial Day speech in advance with Suchan, who asked him to remove a part of his speech, and he didn’t, according to the department.
An Ohio state lawmaker is calling for an official to be fired after a veteran's microphone was cut off during his Memorial Day speech in Hudson, Ohio. The veteran, Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter, began to deliver remarks at a local cemetery when his speech was cut short as he began talking about the role Black people played in the creation of the holiday.The Akron Beacon Journal reported that an organizer for the event, Cindy Suchan, confirmed.
The American Legion of Ohio said Thursday it is investigating a Memorial Day incident in which a keynote speaker's microphone was turned off during part of his speech that touched on Black people's historical role in creating the national holiday.