Protestors are gathering outside of the Freedom Tower in Downtown Miami on Monday afternoon, demanding Miami-Dade College take back the land it donated for President Trump’s presidential library.
Last week, MDC voted unanimously to hand over ownership of its parking lot, which is located next to Freedom Tower, to the state of Florida. Freedom Tower is where tens of thousands of Cuban freedom seekers passed through.
The decision by MDC made it possible to dedicate the land to the presidential library, a plan championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state leaders.
“I don’t know what happened. Why are they giving 2.6 acres of valuable land to Donald Trump for nothing? There must not have been any discussion before the meeting. That would have been illegal,” said retired FIU professor and historian Dr. Marvin Dunn.
Dunn said the land was meant to help expand MDC and educate future generations.
“That building should stand forever as a recognition of Cuban Americans being able to come to this country in freedom, but to blemish it by putting a library next to it, dedicated to someone who has suppressed freedom in our country to an extent that we’ve never seen before, is a contradiction that I don’t understand,” said Dunn.
It’s why he organized a protest outside the tower Monday.
“If they put it in Doral? Thank goodness, be my guest. Mar-a-Lago. Go ahead, Downtown Miami on Biscayne Boulevard. Hell no,” he said.
But MDC board member Roberto Alonso said his parents were processed through the Freedom Tower when they came from Cuba in the 60s and believes the library would mean a lot to this community.
“It’s not about political values or ideologies. It’s about the office, the office of the president, and something that will be here in Miami for students and the community to go visit and learn about the office of the presidency,” said Alonso.
Gov. DeSantis’ cabinet will vote on Tuesday, Sept. 30, to gift the land for the library.
State Attorney General James Uthmeier already said on social media he would be voting “yes.”
