As a white native of Ohio and a military veteran who sometimes has dinner at a Michigan American Legion establishment, I feel I have a particular stake in this.

Google saw fit — apparently connecting American Legion, military, and anti-racism dots in my reading preferences — to feed me a couple local stories on this matter.

Sadly, I did not learn as much about it as I wanted to. Local press were very circumspect in reporting exactly what had been cut from the colonel’s speech, almost like they were covering up for the American Legion post leaders’ racist actions.

If we white Americans cannot celebrate the contributions Black people have made to our culture and society, then we are proving how much racism permeates our nation.

I am outraged that this happened, I am deeply saddened that this happened, but I am not remotely surprised.

Thank you for the story.