An activist protesting the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactics was held in contempt of court on Friday, and sentenced to ten days in jail, after she called Judge John H. Wilson a "white racist pig." In 2006 Judge Wilson penned a children's book called Hot House Flowers, which was an allegory for illegal immigration that depicted immigrants as dandelions that should be "weeded out." A man videotaping the exchange was also handcuffed, and had the contents of his camera deleted by court employees.

According to the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, Christina Gonzalez was at Brooklyn Criminal Court for a hearing related to her arrest at a stop-and-frisk rally in Brownsville back in October, and was told to sit down by Judge Wilson after she asked court clerks a question concerning her attorney, who wasn't able to be present that day.

"The rest of us used Legal Aid, but she had a private attorney," said another activist, Nick Malinowski, who was also arrested at the Brownsville demonstration and witnessed the incident.

When her case was called, Gonzalez entered Wilson's courtroom, but apparently didn't understand that she wasn't supposed to, and Judge Wilson ordered her to be handcuffed. That's when she became "indignant" and asked a fellow defendant to tell her employer that she was being "arrested by a white racist pig." Judge Wilson demanded that Gonzalez apologize, and when she didn't, held her in contempt, and sentenced her to ten days in jail. "She was pretty loud, when she said it," Malinowski said. "Another guy started filming, and the judge ordered him to be handcuffed too. They led him away to a sort of cage next to the courtroom. It was a pretty unusual situation." Malinowski adds that the man filming was unknown to any of the activists. Gonzalez remains at Rikers Island, serving her sentence.

"It sounds like Judge Wilson found Ms. Gonzalez in summary contempt," Gideon Oliver, president of the National Lawyers Guild—New York City chapter, tells us. "Her attorney could have appealed that almost immediately." As for court employees deleting footage of the encounter from the man's camera, Oliver says, "Even if he violated the rule which prohibits filming in the courtroom, unless he consented, or officers had a warrant, it sounds like the court employees were overreaching."

We're attempting to get in touch with Gonzalez and her attorney, but in the meantime, enjoy an excerpt from this one-star review of Hot House Flowers on Amazon: