By Libby Hobbs
Morrow, July 26, 2023 — Several objectors gathered on Tuesday night for the first meeting since Council member Dorothy Dean called fellow member Van Tran “un-American” because she pushed to print ballots in Spanish and Vietnamese languages.
The city of Morrow is diverse, with 32.9% being Asian American and 22% Hispanic or LatinX, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Tran seeks a legal opinion on whether the Federal Voting Rights Act would allow the city to print multilingual ballots.
Video footage shows Dean telling Tran that the oath of citizenship she took as an immigrant American was read and given in English. Dean added that Tran should encourage citizens to speak, read and write “the language in which they are citizens of this country.”
Tran said her fellow council member’s comments were “culturally insensitive.”
“It lacks knowledge of [the] Voting Rights Act, and that’s insulting or harassment. It [affects] not only myself but the minority that I’m standing for in this position,” Tran said.
Dean did not respond to interview requests with Georgia Asian Times as of Tuesday, July 25.
“You have failed in your oath of office. You have failed as a citizen of this country,” Dean said in the video. “You disregarded and you dishonored those oaths that you took as an American citizen. I would like to say that is un-American and inexcusable. Shame on you, Van Tran.”
More than 10,000 or 5% of all voting-age U.S. citizens must be in a particular language group for it to be added to the ballots, according to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Tran believes the Vietnamese community in Morrow, Georgia, meets that threshold.
Currently, the city hires language interpreters in Vietnamese and Spanish who sit in the voting poll and are available to assist anyone that needs their service, said Mayor John Lampl. Additionally, under federal law, any voter can bring a person with them to help.
However, Tran is still concerned with these citizens’ privacy when casting their ballots. She is hopeful that elected officials will reconsider the proposal after hearing from the public.
Roughly 20 people from the city of Morrow and the state of Georgia voiced their disagreements on Tuesday night in front of the Mayor and Council. Georgia state Rep. for the city of Morrow and District 79, Yasmin Neal, said all people deserve equal access.
“We don’t need to use this moment to divide us,” Neal said. “I would like to see these two women resolve their differences … the world outside of Morrow, the world outside of Clayton County is fighting itself. We don’t need to fight ourselves here.”
Tran said she wanted Dean to be held accountable, which she said would be an apology to the minority people, the community as a whole and everyone that’s been hurt. She felt support from the Vietnamese, Hispanic and LatinX communities after the controversy but knows people are upset.
Dean did not apologize in her response to the public at Tuesday’s meeting. She said she appreciated everyone’s opinion but that her opinion of freedom is understanding the language that is spoken in a country that is free.
“We’ll learn, we’ll work together,” Lampl said. “There’s 8000 citizens in the city of Morrow, so the conversation will sink in. Thoughts will be applied and decisions will be made.”
