According to Fox News, contempt charges against Diane Tran, an Asian American
According to Fox News, contempt charges against Diane Tran, an Asian American student who attends Willis High School near Houston, have been dismissed by Judge Lanny Moriarty, who had jailed her for excessive truancy.
Tran worked two jobs to support her family
According to the Fox News story, Tran was obliged to support her siblings after the separation of her parents by working full time at a dry cleaning business and part time for a wedding planner. A Daily Beast story on her plight suggests that the long work hours and the heavy course load, which includes advance placement and college level courses, she had undertaken had begun to take its toll. Lack of sleep had caused her to miss classes and to come in late for school, missing a total of 18 class days in the last school semester.
Tran runs afoul of Texas law
Fox News reports that Texas law only permits students to miss 10 class days before they are considered truant. Judge Moriarty, in an apparent attempt to make an example of her, ordered her to spend 24 hours in jail and pay a $100 fine. Tran had previously been warned by the Judge for her school absences.
Judge’s decision causes an outcry
Judge Moriarty’s decision to jail Tran, whom the Daily Beast refers to as a “model minority” for her hard work and her academic achievement as an honor student despite her absences caused an outcry. Fox News reports that Houston Councilman Al Hoang criticized Judge Moriarty for not using discretion in Tran’s case. A website, called Help Diane Tran, has raised $100,000 to help her in her situation, with contributors from all 50 states and 19 countries as of this writing. Her story has gone viral, being covered in the UK Daily Mail, for example.
Judge yields to public pressure
The Daily Beast indicated that at first Judge Moriarty resisted popular pressure to reverse his decision for fear of appearing “weak.” But on Wednesday, according to Fox, the judge reversed himself and dismissed the contempt charges. Tran has still spent a day in jail, something that cannot be taken away, but she will be able to file the paperwork to have her record expunged. This is important, as a criminal record would prevent her from attended a good university. Tran hopes to eventually attend medical school.
The bottom line
The Daily Beast suggests that, contrary to popular stereotypes, poverty and excessive school drop outs as a result is a problem in the Asian American community. Tran’s situation will be greatly relieved by the money raised on her behalf, which will likely mean that she will not have to work to support her family and will have some tuition money for whatever university she chooses to attend.
Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.