CLEVELAND — Scrolling through comments on his TikTok, Judge William Dawson takes in what people have to say and reflects on his newfound fame.
“It’s been kind of fun, but it’s only for the purpose of helping. That’s the only reason I do it,” said Dawson.
Dawson has sat on the bench in East Cleveland for nine years.
During that time, he’s made a name for himself as a cycle breaker. He’s also a certified yoga instructor and regularly uses yoga in his sentences.
“To this day if you’re on probation to the East Cleveland court it’s a good chance part of your requirement will be to come to my yoga class. Now you don’t have to pay anything to come to my class or anything like that but you have to come because I want them to think outside the box,” said Dawson. “I want them to benefit from the mindfulness, the meditation and the body movement. You know how healthy that can be.”
Now Dawson is wearing another hat: TikTok star.
He has over 340,000 followers and over 1 million likes, but it’s not posting for fame. Instead, he genuinely hopes to help others through his videos.
“It’s very important to educate the young people and our community and even all communities on how to deal with the legal system. If you just look at what’s happening across our country there is truly a disconnect between the community and the legal system whether it starts with police, prosecutors and then judges,” said Dawson.
“In fact, the disconnect is so bad there’s almost just like a dislike at this point. So one of my goals is and I always put this up when I go live, is that I’m trying to change the narrative of justice. I’m trying to show people that there can be correction with compassion.”
Dawson said he has mainly received support for his videos and even has moments where defendants enter his courtroom and tell him they’ve seen his TikTok’s.
One person who may not be the biggest fan? His own daughter.
“But she won’t watch my videos! She’s like ‘dad I don’t want to see you on TikTok’ and I’m like, ‘ok sweetheart’ but every now and then she’ll sneak and watch something and say ‘I saw your video dad’,” said Dawson.
