Sad, Mayor Dean, very sad; The Sunday New York Times shines spotlight on torture of Juana Villegas DeLaPaz by local law enforcement

The newspaper of record for the United States -- and possibly the world -- has reported on the torture of a very pregnant Hispanic woman by Davidson County law enforcement authorities for seven days including the Fourth of July weekend.

Read the Sunday story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/us/20immig.html

If that outrage was not enough to embarrass Nashville, the following statement to reporter Julia Preston of The New York Times by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean showcased a complete lack of humanity and obliviousness to any sense of justice fitting the crime:

“We are able to identify and report individuals who are here illegally and have been charged with a criminal offense, while at the same time remaining a friendly and open city to our new legal residents."

That's a bunch of bunk, even for a politician.

Consider that Dean supposedly is a Democrat, whose party is working toward legalization of undocumented immigrants who can prove a history in this nation of work, raising families and paying taxes. Consider that Dean is Catholic, and the follower of a pope who recently visited the United States and called on American Catholics to treat their fellow believers with compassion.

By his statement, Dean considers operating a vehicle without a driver's license to be a criminal offense. So if you leave your home without your wallet and get stopped and ticketed, you're a hardened criminal in the eyes of Nashville's mayor. More importantly, you're deserving of being shackled in your hospital bed while you're delivering a baby or receiving chemo for your cancer.

The mayor should be deeply ashamed of himself for such illogic. He damn well knows that the 287g deportation program that allowed for Mrs. DeLaPaz to be tortured over seven days in sheriff's custody was sold to the public as a way to remove dangerous criminals from Davidson County.

Women three days from delivering their babies do not qualify for the FBI's Most Wanted List, particularly when they have only committed a misdemeanor offense of driving without a license and being in this country without documentation.

At one time, Nashville was considered a progressive city, a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement. But the place I've watched since 1996 is most certainly an imposter. Its officials have proposed and passed big projects to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Williamson County patrons say "thanks for the entertainment" as they put most of their money in their schools.

Meanwhile, billionaires and milionaires of the coporate world have had the "Welcome, Step All Over Us" mat put out for them. And mega-millions of dollars in taxpayer freebies are only the appertizer. Dean's handling of the deal to keep the Predators in Nashville was another major embarrassment. One of the investors has filed for bankruptcy and had already developed plans to move the team out of Nashville.

Then, earlier this month, the Metro school board voted to resegregate Nashville public schools. Since 1896 and the Plessy vs Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court decision, we've seen that separate never has been equal. Yet Dean could not even muster enough courage to take a stand as an elected official. Now he says he supports it.

Quick! Someone fill out a Kennedy Library Profiles in Courage application for the mayor!

It is obvious, after studying this matter from both sides, that the resegregation vote was wrong -- no matter the rationale. The study group should have been sent back to bring back a better plan. And I have some definite ideas for such a plan.

But the sad truth is, if you're a minority and/or a woman in Nashville of 2008, you do not have equal protection under the law or in the eyes of policymakers. Instead, these hypocrites are in full spin cycle, rationalizing the torture of pregnant mothers and African-American school children.

Nashville deserves to be held up to the nation -- not for the music from the Ryman or Grand Ole Opry -- but the cries from the streets of its victims from public policy gone terribly awry. Ths city should be boycotted by conventions of people of conscience -- no matter their gender, race or ethnicity -- and designated as under "human rights watch" by Amnesty International USA.

The New York Times story, the mayor's embarrassing statement and the school resegregation vote demand that new leaders step forward and new voices be raised to save a city from its policymakers.