The tweet from California Superior Court Judge William Watson that said “White power is a cancer on our civilization” in the courtroom is one of the most notorious instances of racist abuse on record, according to a recent report from BuzzFeed.
Watson is a member of the state’s high court.
His tweets and subsequent Facebook post were removed by the judge and then deleted again, but he is still on Twitter as of Monday.
Watson, who is white, has been under scrutiny for years for his racist comments.
He is the same judge who last year blocked the release of a book by University of Virginia professor Heather Mac Donald that dealt with racism and misogyny in the white supremacist movement.
In an article published on BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed reporter Anna Palmer said Watson’s tweets have been viewed more than 40 million times.
While Watson’s racist comments have been taken down by his court, he has not been disciplined.
“Judge Watson is now an active participant in the hate speech movement and the racist trolls who have joined him have been emboldened to harass others in the justice system,” Palmer wrote.
In a tweet published earlier this month, Watson said that the internet is “where I see the worst of our current social ills,” and added that “the internet is where we see the most racism.”
He added that he was “pleased” to be in a position to be able to “stand up for white people and their freedom of speech.”
Watson is not alone.
In the past two weeks, another judge has been caught on video posting racist comments about the black community.
In November, an attorney for California Superior Judge Carlos Gutierrez, who has been accused of sexual misconduct and harassment, said he would be fired from the bench if he doesn’t remove his racist tweets.
Gutierrez has been on probation for sexual harassment allegations.
In response to the reports of harassment by Watson, Gutierrez wrote on Twitter, “I know I am not alone.”
But the tweets from Watson are just the tip of the iceberg.
There are dozens of other judges who have been accused by other judges of racist behavior.
In October, California Superior Superior Court judge Daniel Sotelo was caught on camera calling a white woman a “fucking pig.”
In June, he tweeted a racist message in which he wrote, “If a man were to marry a black woman, that woman’s husband would be dead.
She would be a whore and a cunt.”
In April, a judge who has criticized the civil rights movement in California was caught using racial slurs to describe African Americans.
That same month, California Judge Brian Bockelman was seen making racist comments during a hearing.
He was later fired for his behavior, according of BuzzFeed.
And in January, another California judge who was accused of misconduct by several other judges was fired.
In April 2018, a court in the Southern California city of Lodi was rocked by accusations that it was a racist place to live.
In June 2018, one of his judges was seen to use a racial slur to describe a black man, according the Los Angeles Times.
A court in Los Angeles was also rocked in May 2018 after a judge was filmed yelling a racial epithet at a black judge.