As part of the nationwide 50501 (Fifty-Fifty-One) protests on Presidents' Day, around 80 people assembled along Biscayne Boulevard at the Torch of Friendship monument in front of Bayfront Park. This is the second wave of nationwide protests organized by the grassroots 50501 movement in response to the Trump administration.
"Trump, Trump, go to hell. The U.S. is not for sale," the protesters chanted.
They followed with another chant, "No Trump; No KKK; no fascist USA,"
Organizers of the 50501 protest in downtown Miami issued guidelines for protesters.
Photo by Anna Magluta
"I'm here to fight for not only my rights for my future kids if I have future kids, for my friends," Gabrielle Cubera tells New Times. "I appreciate the fact that the older generation is here fighting for me as I am here fighting for myself. I am also fighting for my career. So much is happening that needs to be fought for. History doesn't need to repeat itself. History should be moving forward so that we can make it better."
Cubera, who is a senior majoring in science at Florida International University (FIU), adds that she is disturbed by the federal funding cuts to science and research.
"All the cancer research, research into autism, into mental health that needs to keep going," she says. "We were getting somewhere. We're not supposed to be stopping that."
While several people in cars honked their horns in support of the protesters, one shirtless man with way too much filler and Botox in his face was riding a Citi Bike as he taunted demonstrators
"Three more years of Trump," he yelled. "Three more years of Trump." People waved American flags and held signs that read, "Stop DOGE. Save our constitution," "Protect TPS," "Fidel = Trump Dictator," "Stop Presidents Trusk," "We didn't vote 4 Elon," "I Stand for Democracy!," and "End the
Marilyn Chavez, an emergency room nurse, tells New Times that she came out to protest for the rights of all people, from military veterans to children to women.
"My heart goes out to the women and the public has a misconception of abortion and women's rights," Chavez says while wearing an American flag bandana and holding a sign that reads, "America Has No King." "Even the women who want to have babies, they have no control over what their bodies do to them so now to make it illegal, to put them in jail, to tie the hands of the medical professionals who are trying to help them is just insanity."
"I have held the hands of women who are miscarrying," she adds. "That's nature. How are you going to put women in jail and have doctors send women to their cars to die? That's murderous. This whole is a disaster at this point. When are people going to wake up?"
