Man Stands on The US Flag Outside Courthouse to Protest Racism (VIDEO)

A Pennsylvania man has sparked a controversy by standing on an American flag outside a courthouse to protest racism.

Rashad McAdory said he will remain standing on the flag outside the Erie County Courthouse until his concerns about white supremacy and racial injustice in the local justice system and in the city of Erie as a whole are addressed.




“It is not my flag,” McAdory said. “I want to see the system change and the laws and help for the black community.”

McAdory, who said he is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, said he's outraged by a recent article that named Erie the worst city for African Americans to live, so he is protesting to bring awareness to that issue.

McAdory said he has been standing on the flag in front of the courthouse for several days and will continue to do so until “someone in charge” comes out and talks to him about his concerns.

On Thursday, a group of counterprotesters assembled next to him, holding up an American flag.

“I love America,” counterprotester Josh Castano said. “I appreciate his protest, but not standing on the flag. The national anthem and the flag are not foundations to stand on.”

“If you want to protest, fine,” counterprotester Benjamin Kage said. “But when you stand on the American flag, you lose momentum, you lose credibility.”

Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei Reveals How She’s Tackling Racist Online Bullies

Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei has heard it all. "Get f–king lynched.” “Dumb black bitch.” “You f–ked up the pretty girl group.” Those were some of the messages the 20-year-old singer was subjected to when checking Twitter this summer. 

“It was absolutely disgusting,” Kordei tells Us. The hate reached a fervor when the Atlanta native called bandmate Camila Cabello “very quirky” during an August 1 Facebook Live interview with the website Galore. Perceiving the label as a snub, Cabello’s fans filled Kordei’s feed with the n-word and other racist remarks.

Though Cabello defended her pal, tweeting, “I won’t tolerate on my timeline any kind of hate, racism, or discrimination,” the bullying got so bad that Kordei decided to take a hiatus from Twitter on August 6.

But after nearly six weeks away, Kordei realized she could use social media to make changes. The “Work From Home” singer teamed up with the nonprofit Cybersmile Foundation, which offers support to victims of online abuse, to raise awareness about cyberbullying. “My mission is to show people there is hope,” notes the single star. “This taught me I’m definitely stronger than I thought I was.”

Hours after reinstalling her Twitter app September 13, Kordei sat down with Us’ Cara Sprunk at West Hollywood’s Soho House to share her scary experience.

Us Weekly: The bullying started when Fifth Harmony formed on The X Factor in 2012. What did people say?

NK: Everybody in the group gets online hate, but mine is different. Racism really does exist and I’m the only African American girl of the group. There are people creating Photoshopped pictures of me getting beat as if I were a slave back in the day.

Us: That’s horrible. How did you deal?

NK: I tried to ignore it at first. My way of dealing with it was to not deal with it, if that makes sense. I thought the best thing was just not to look at the comments. Even if there’s one comment, it’s superhurtful and it’s the one that sticks with you.

Us: And things got worse after your Facebook Live interview?

NK: Oh, yes. I even put up a statement clarifying that I didn’t mean anything by it and I love all the girls, but I guess that backfired because I started getting even more hate. It was just too much — they even attacked my grandma, who’s on Twitter! I was really scared.

Us: What happened when you announced you were quitting?

NK: I felt like a weight had been lifted. And I got so much love. Keke Palmer, Zendaya, a bunch of my friends — they were all texting me, making sure that I was OK and giving me advice. It really did open my eyes to see that people do genuinely care about me. I don’t know how many times I heard, “Normani, I’m here to support you.” They came to our shows and made signs. The whole stadium was filled with posters saying, “Normani, we love you!” Once Twitter was gone, I felt a lot more present, not always looking to see what people were saying about me. It was a relief.

Camila Cabello, Dinah Jane Hansen, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui and Ally Brooke Hernandez (from left) of Fifth Harmony performs during the Power 96.1 Jingle Ball at Philips Arena Dec. 17, 2015, in Atlanta.
Robb D. Cohen/Invision/AP

Us: So, why come back to Twitter?

NK: To turn the situation around and make it positive. I feel like it’s almost my purpose to speak up about my experience so it could help somebody else. The hate is not going to stop, but I needed to make a point that you can’t run away from a bully. You can’t allow someone’s hate to dictate your life. I want to be the voice for those people who are going through the same thing, like little African American boys and girls getting bullied at school. It wasn’t just, I’m going to get back in to tweet “I had a burger today.”

Us: What’s your goal?

NK: We created a hashtag, #ImACybersmiler, and you can make videos and share your stories to show people that you’re not alone, and we can support one another. Knowing that you’re not alone really does make all the difference in the world. I never, ever want to go back to that other place again where I worry about those ugly comments and people who hate. I’m just going to be me.

Bill Cosby's lawyers Claims There is Racial Bias, Says He is 'no stranger to discrimination'

In a statement issued Tuesday after a pretrial hearing in the criminal sexual assault case against him, Bill Cosby’s attorneys alleged racial bias in the abuse accusations and assailed “the trampling of Mr. Cosby’s civil rights.”

“Mr. Cosby is no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are not negative — no matter the race, gender and religion of a person,” the statement read. 

“Yet, over the last fourteen months, Mr. Cosby, and those who have supported him, have been ignored, while lawyers like Gloria Allred hold press conferences to accuse him of crimes for unwitnessed events that allegedly occurred almost a half century earlier.”

Pennsylvania’s criminal investigation against Cosby was relaunched 14 months ago. Allred, a California-based attorney, is representing more than half of the 50-plus women who have accused Cosby of drugging and/or sexually assaulting him.

Cosby has denied all allegations, and he pleaded not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges.

On Tuesday, Allred and one of the accusers she represents were scheduled to hold a news conference in support of legislation that would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations in California for rape and sexual assault.

Cosby’s lawyers’ statement continued, “The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr. Cosby’s civil rights. Gloria Allred apparently loves the media spotlight more than she cares about justice. She calls herself a civil rights attorney, but her campaign against Mr. Cosby builds on racial bias and prejudice that can pollute the court of public opinion.

“And when the media repeats her accusations – with no evidence, no trial and no jury – we are moved backwards as a country and away from the America that our civil rights leaders sacrificed so much to create.

Mr. Cosby is not giving up the fight for his rights.”

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele declined comment on Cosby’s statement.

Allred could not immediately be reached for comment.

This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com.