ATLANTA -- A Morrow, Georgia, city councilwoman said a Vietnamese-American colleague “failed as a citizen of this country” and “dishonored” her office because she backed a petition for multilingual ballots ahead of the metro Atlanta city’s upcoming election.
The comments last week from Councilwoman Dorothy Dean took aim at Councilwoman Van Tran after she sought to provide ballots in Spanish and Vietnamese for upcoming city-level votes.
“I would like you to know that I feel as a citizen of this city and as a fellow councilmember that you do not deserve to sit on that dais as an elected official,” Dean said at the council meeting, saying the petition “offended me highly.”
“You have failed in your oath of office. You have failed as a citizen of this country,” Dean said. “You disregarded and you dishonored the oaths that you took as an American citizen. I would like to say that is un-American and inexcusable. Shame on you, Van Tran.”
Dean acknowledged that the people voting in Morrow’s elections are American citizens, but said she was offended “as a woman of color…who has had to march and stand in lines and protest to get the right to vote.”
Morrow Mayor John Lampl adjourned the meeting before Tran could respond. She told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Dean should be held accountable for her remarks.
“There is nothing more patriotic and American than helping American citizens fulfill their duty to vote. I am providing access to voting for all American citizens,” she said. “It is offensive to call the many languages spoken by American citizens as foreign.”
Dean didn’t immediately return a request for further comment.
Morrow is one of the most diverse suburban cities in the metro region, and many residents don’t speak English as their primary language. The city of roughly 6,400 is 40% Black, one-third Asian-American and about 20% Latino. Tran is one of two Vietnamese-American members on the city council.
State Rep. Long Tran, a Dunwoody Democrat who is the son of Vietnamese refugees, said to expect protests at Morrow’s next council meeting next week. He criticized Dean for “scapegoating” immigrants.
“We are not an English-only state or nation,” said the state legislator, who is not related to Van Tran. “Immigrants dream of the day they become citizens to fulfill their duty to vote. We should help them exercise their right to vote when we can.”
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