Diane Tran is a 17 year old High School student who works a full time and part time job to support her siblings. She also takes dual credit college courses like English Literacy, U.S. History and College Algebra as well as AP Spanish.
Due to exhaustion that caught up with her, Diane was sentenced to be jailed overnight and fined $100 by Judge Lanny Moriarty of Texas for truancy.
Jailing and fining, or otherwise punishing someone who is not just trying to survive but is doing better than what average might look like is not the so-called American Dream. In fact, dispel the myth of American Dream all you like, but in the envisioning of it, I would absolutely envision the likes of Diane Tran doing her best to find it. Punishing her is so wrong on so many different levels I cannot begin to express my disappointment.
Moriarty is a bully. He is not a compassionate human being and he should not be allowed to wield power over others. Missing the mark so far off in something as serious as putting a 17 year old person in jail (for being tired no less), where not only is there no victim, but lacking one seemingly iota of common sense that might otherwise yield, "This girl needs some help. Let's see what we can do for her." No. Instead he seeks to do something to her.
I am not even going to attempt broaching the idea of what even the idea of jail might do to the forming psyche of a 17 year old studious and hard-working student, much less the actuality of a night in jail. I am not going to delve into how hard, exhausting, or disheartening it must be for a young person carrying a challenging school schedule to have to turn $100 of hard-earned money into the state for a so-called 'crime' that was the result of her being so excellent for so long. No, I'm not delving into that.
It's too sickening.
- Here is the petition asking the judge to cancel her fine and jail sentence.
- Contact the office of Judge Lanny Moriarty or file a complaint.
300 S. Danville St
Willis, TX 77378
(936) 539-7801 Office
(936) 788-8399 Fax
- Share this poster url (with the petition link): http://on.fb.me/diane-tran
- Kerry Patton writes an excellent article: Diane Tran and America's Lost Tribe
