HUDSON, Ohio – A local veteran’s speech in an affluent Ohio community was abruptly silenced by event organizers when he began recounting the influence freed slaves had on what was widely considered the first Memorial Day.
What You Need To Know
- A veteran’s speech was silenced by event organizers when he recounted the influence freed slaves had on the first Memorial Day
- The sound was cut as Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter, a former Hudson resident, talked about freed slaves in Charlotte reinterring soldiers’ bodies from a POW camp
- Organizers ordered sound designer A.J. Stokes to cut the sound during a specific part in the speech
- When Stokes refused, the event organizers turned the volume off, but Kemter continued speaking
During the event Monday in Markillie Cemetery in Hudson, the sound was cut off about two minutes into Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter’s 11-minute speech, about the origins of Memorial Day.
A Hudson native, Kemter moved away from his birthplace in 1970, but as a former Army lieutenant colonel, he has been asked to serve as keynote speaker for Memorial Days past, he said.
“My whole intention at that speech was to be educational and informative, as to the origin of Memorial Day — kind of why we have the services that we do,” he said.
On Monday, when the sound went out, Kemter at first tapped the microphone, and then with a smile said, “A.J., mic,” to draw the attention of A.J. Stokes, a Hudson resident who owns Stokes Sound & Video, and was providing sound for the ceremony. The men knew each other growing up in Hudson.
Before he began speaking, Kemter had asked the crowd to move closer because he was eager to share some obscure information he had found while researching for the speech, he said.
“This is why you moved in closer, so you could hear this,” Kemter joked to the crowd when the sound went out, continuing his speech.
Kemter had begun talking about the freed slaves in Charlotte who at the end of the Civil War had returned to a Union prisoner-of-war camp and dug up soldiers’ bodies from a mass grave to give them a proper burial, he said.
A month later, a ceremony was held — widely considered by historians the first Memorial Day — when more than 10,000 participants walked through Charlotte, carrying flowers, and singing a song about abolitionist John Brown, who was born in Hudson.
“I wanted to inform the people of the contribution that these African Americans had made in establishing the first Memorial Day service, and then in later years, keeping that alive in the South, until finally, the city of Charleston has put up historical markers about it,” Kemter said.
When the sound was cut, Kemter thought it was a glitch in Stoke’s system and kept speaking. But when Kemter’s speech ended, Stokes said he approached him to let him know it was no accident.
He told Kemter he had been ordered to cut the sound by event organizers, Cindy Suchan, a Hudson resident, and Jim Garrison, an adjutant of American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464, Stokes said.
The pair had ordered Stokes to cut the sound, but he refused, so Garrison began pulling on cords on the sound board, Stokes said.
To protect his equipment, Stokes pointed to the volume knob, which Garrison turned down, he said. After about two minutes, Garrison turned the volume back up.
“I was very, very angry, very upset that those two people are basically putting me in that position and then taking control of my equipment,” Stokes said.
At the time, Stokes didn’t realize the intent was to silence Kemter as he spoke about African Americans’ contribution, he said.
But minutes before the incident, Stokes had approached Suchan to ask her how everything sounded. She was listening intently to the speech and couldn’t respond to him but he heard her say, “He’s not supposed to say that.”
The Akron Beacon Journal reported on Wednesday that Suchan, who could not be reached for comment, told the newspaper that Kemter was silenced because what he was saying was not “relevant” and the event was to honor Hudson veterans. Spectrum News 1 made several attempts on Thursday to reach out to Suchan and Garrison, but neither could be reached for comment.
A video of the event, posted on the Hudson Community TV’s Vimeo page now bears the message, “Lapse in sound not fault of Stokes Sound & Video Inc. or Hudson Community TV.”
One commentor wrote, “It’s ironic the organizer of a Memorial Day event and an adjutant of an American Legion post are out here trying to trample on the First Amendment rights of an American veteran. It doesn’t sound like either of you are qualified to be organizing or leading anything and certainly show that you have no respect for the country.”
Another wrote, “So many people clearly care more about the Second Amendment than the first!!”
A debate has ensued on the Hudson Roundtable Facebook page, as well where residents are expressing frustration over the Memorial Day incident events.
“This is what the larger world is learning about us,” wrote a commenter. “What conclusions will be drawn of out 93% white community? And will they be correct?”
On the same Facebook page, another resident wrote, “So with the current trend in town toward more extremes, I presume next weeks story will be a cross burning or a Klan parade? Now is the time to stand up and make your voice heard that this is wrong. Prove we aren’t a haven for blatant racism to be practiced.”
Kemter said he was surprised by the events of Memorial Day, but did not refer to it as bigotry.
“I think it was a case of poor judgment by the individuals,” he said.
Stokes, who runs sound and produces videos for many corporate events, said, if asked, he would provide sound for Hudson’s Memorial Day event next year.
“If someone else is in charge,” he said, “but I would have a discussion with them ahead of time.”
Hudson officials released the following statement Thursday about circumstances surrounding the event:
“The Mayor of Hudson and Hudson City Council are disheartened to learn that the American Legion turned the sound off for a portion of retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter’s speech during the Legion’s Memorial Day Ceremony. The Legion explained that mentioning the role that people of color played in history of Memorial Day was “not relevant to our program for the day.
“We condemn the actions taken by the American Legion to censor the comments of Lt. Col. Kemter. The decision disrespected the Lt. Col. who has valiantly served our country and was there to honor veterans in his speech, and it disrespected all Hudson and American veterans nationwide who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the freedoms we value as Americans.
The people who came to honor the brave men and women who died for our country were deprived of hearing the totality of comments the speaker intended as he honored America’s fallen. 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.
“Hudson is a City that prides itself in our history as being the home of abolitionist John Brown and a stop on the underground railroad. We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to ensuring that the Constitutional rights of every person who lives, works, and visits our great City are protected.
“We regret that retired Army Lt. Col. Kemter was treated this way by the American Legion while in our community. We remain committed to engaging in continuing communication and dialog to address issues of systemic racism and intolerance and their impact on individuals and on the community.”
