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Event organizer turned down sound for part of speech; Speaker says he was censored by Hudson American Legion

Update:Hudson American Legion Post's charter suspended, leader resigns

HUDSON What at first blush appeared to be a shortaudio malfunction at Monday's Memorial Day ceremony in Markillie Cemetery turned out to be anything but.

A ceremony organizer turned off the microphone when the event's keynote speaker, retired Army Lt.Col. BarnardKemter, began sharinga story aboutfreed Black slaves honoring deceased soldiers shortly after the end of the Civil War.

The microphone was turned down for about two minutes in the middle of Kemter's 11-minute speech during theevent hosted by the Hudson American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464. (See the start of the speech at the 47-minute mark below.)

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Cindy Suchan,who chairs the Memorial Day parade committee and is president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, saidit was either her orJimGarrison, adjutant ofAmerican LegionLee-Bishop Post 464, who turned down the audio. When pressed, she would not saywho specifically did it.

Suchan said organizerswanted this part excludedbecause it was not relevant to our program for the day," andadded the themeof the day was honoring Hudson veterans.

Kemtersaid he wanted to use his speech to share the history of the origin of Memorial Day. Afterward, henoted, he received "numerouscompliments" from attendees who told himitwas nice to hear the history.

It was well-received,Kemtersaid, adding many people told him, I never knew that.

He expressed disappointment with the event organizers' actions.

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,Kemtersaid.… This is not the same country I fought for.

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Kemter, a 1962 Hudson High School graduate,said he was trained as a combat medic, wasin the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1995, andserved in the Persian Gulf War.

In the daysleading up to the ceremony,Suchan said she reviewed Kemtersspeech andasked him to remove certain portions.

We asked him to modify his speech, and he chose not to do that, said Suchan.

Suchan declined to say which partshe wantedexcluded, butconfirmed the two minuteswhenKemtersmicrophone was turned off were part ofwhat she askedhim toexclude.During thosetwo minutes,Kemter isheard discussinghow formerslavesandfreed Black menshortly after the Civil Warexhumed theremainsofmore than 200 Union soldierswho died in battle in Charlestonand gave thema proper burial.

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About three days before the ceremony,Kemtersaid, he was emailed by an event organizer (whom he declined to name) askinghim to remove apart of hisspeech dealing with Black Americans rolein an early Memorial Day-type of ceremony. Kemterdeclined to share whytheorganizerasked him to removethis part, but said heasked the organizer to specify what portions they wanted to have excluded.

When he received an email back from the organizerSunday evening, the message stated that the parts to be removed were highlighted.Kemtersaid he did not seeany text highlighted and with the ceremony less than 24 hours away,he did not reply again.

"I didn't have time to sit down and rewrite another speech," Kemter said.

Kemter said he showed the text of the speech to a Hudson public official, who advised him to leave the speech intact.

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At a certain point inKemtersspeech, Suchan said she asked A.J. Stokes, the events audio engineer, to turn offKemtersmicrophone. She said Stokes refused to do it himself, butpointed to the knob that controlled themicrophone.

Stokes confirmed his refusal and that he did pointto the knob.He saidit was Garrison who turned down the audio and then turned it back up a short time later.

When reached by phone Wednesday, Garrison declined to say whetherhe turned down the microphone and said hehad "nothing to add" regarding the situation.

Stokes said Suchan and Garrison were both very adamant about turning offKemtersmicrophone.

That was very improper, Stokes said. I wouldve never done something like that.

He said hewas very upset about what happened and hoped he was not being blamed.Suchan emphasized that Stokes was "totally blameless."

He noted hes handled the sound engineering for the event since the late 1960s andhas his own company, Stokes Sound & Video Inc.

After the ceremony, Stokes said heapologized toKemterabout the loss in audio, but also told him, I had nothing to do with that.Cindy and Jim were the ones that turned your microphone off.

When his microphone was turned down,Kemtersaid, he thought there was a problem with the equipment. After the event, Stokes told me it was not a malfunction.

Kemtersaid he did not speak with Suchan or Garrison after the ceremony.

Inthe video of the programthat appears on the HCTV website,Kemtersmicrophone stops working in the middle of his speech. When Kemter noticesmembers of the crowd sayingthat they cant hear him, he taps the microphone, looks at someone off-camera and saysA.J., mic, referring to Stokes.

Kemterlooksat the crowd, smiles and explains that this was why he had asked attendeesto movecloserwhen he opened his speech. Hecontinues speaking,andafter about two minutes, the microphonecomes back on and stays on for the remainder of the speech. The audio of whatKemtersaid can still be heardduring the video because there was ashotgunmicrophoneonHCTVsvideo camera.

During the two minutes when the microphone was turned down, the recording of theprogram on HCTVincludes a disclaimer stating "Lapse in sound not [the] fault of Stokes & Sound Inc. or Hudson Community TV."

Reporter Phil Keren can be reached atpkeren@thebeaconjournal.com, or on Twitter at @keren_phil.

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Veteran's mic cut when he speaks of Black people's role in Memorial Day creation - Akron Beacon Journal