From his birthplace in Puerto Rico to the lively streets of Washington Heights, Luis A. Miranda Jr. relentlessly has pursued political power and economic success for himself and his fellow Latinos.
Miranda, 70, shared details of this fascinating and consequential journey in a January 13 conversation at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute with the Hunter community and his friend, CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. The occasion was the recent publication of Miranda’s memoir, Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit that is Transforming America — a landmark exploration of Latino heritage, power, and influence in the United States.
A longtime community activist and political strategist, Miranda said he wrote his book because of a friend’s dare. During recent administrations, Miranda said he has felt frustrated with the facile and misleading analyses of the motivations of Latino voters he has seen in books and on the news. When a friend challenged him to set the record straight, that is, to put up or shut up, he sat himself down and wrote Relentless.
“She went and found me a publisher, so then I had no more excuses,” said Miranda, who added that his superstar son, Hunter College Elementary and High School alumnus and playwright-composer-director Lin Manuel-Miranda ’94, ’98, gave him eight pages of advice, only some of which he accepted.
Miranda was raised in the small town of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, and came to New York City in the 1970s to pursue his education. He acknowledged that he never envisioned staying on the mainland but found himself drawn to the community of Washington Heights, where Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other Latinos were creating a vibrant center of culture and commerce. He and his wife, Luz Towns-Miranda, even worked as CUNY adjuncts to support their children’s college education, highlighting the significance of CUNY played in their lives.
In his conversation with Matos Rodríguez, Miranda described how he went from leading not-for-profits ASPIRA and the Hispanic Federation to forming a political consultancy, Miram, with former Bronx Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez.
Miranda engineered the successful campaign for Bronx Borough president of his fellow Latino community activist Fernando Ferrer and several other local politicians. Ferrer, a former CUNY trustee, served as borough president for 20 years and ran for mayor in 2001, losing the Democratic primary by a scant 20,000 votes.
But if Miranda hasn’t elected a Puerto Rican or Latino as New York City mayor, he isn’t done organizing, he said, commending the power of nonprofits in uniting Latino communities for collective action and representation. He stressed the importance of finding and nurturing talent in the community to guarantee future representation.
“It takes an entire generation to develop a group of leaders, and their time comes and goes. It’s then the job of the next generation to develop the next,” he said.
Where will Miranda find the talent? At CUNY, of course. He expressed his deep appreciation for CUNY’s educational and community development opportunities.
“This is an important institution right now,” Miranda said of Hunter College, noting that he is involved in Hunter College Elementary and High School because his grandchildren attend.
“There would not be the development that we have had in the Latino community in New York without CUNY,” he said. “It’s just as simple as that.”
Watch the program below
