BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Using modesty and humor, Luis Miranda Jr. on Thursday inspired a crowd of Latino leaders and students from Lehigh University and Bethlehem Area School District high schools.
Miranda, father of "Hamilton" creator and award-winning actor/director Lin-Manuel Miranda, in an hourlong conversation inside Zoellner Arts Center's Baker Hall, Miranda touched on a variety of topics.
Some were serious, such as immigration reform, affirmative action and reproductive rights, and others lighthearted anecdotes about his family.
Miranda also has a daughter, Luz Miranda-Crespo, and an adopted son, his nephew, Miguel.
He and his wife, Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary on Monday.
Miranda's visit was part of a tour for his memoir, "Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That is Transforming America," released in May.
He read a joyful excerpt from "Relentless" that retells the story of when Lin-Manuel Miranda was nominated and won several Tony Awards in 2008 for "In the Heights."
"My family wanted to come from Puerto Rico and all of a sudden we [have] 15 people [wanting to come] but we only had four tickets," Miranda said.
"I became a total pain the a— and called everyone I knew that is remotely connected to the Tonys and we get the 15 tickets."
Why voting matters
Miranda, who was born in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, has spent decades as an activist for Latino representation in the United States.
In 1990, he founded the Hispanic Federation and is a founding partner of the MirRam Group, a government affairs, lobbying and political consulting firm.
Together with the Hispanic Federation, he established the UNIDOS Fund, which raised more than $43 million for relief and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017.
Miranda also served in three New York City mayoral administrations, with mayors Ed Koch, David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani.
With fewer than 50 days until the presidential election, Miranda asked the 18-and-older audience if they were registered to vote.
Because of the university's policies, Miranda didn't endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, onstage.
But he talked about some of the issues she supports, including reproductive rights.
He criticized the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the use of race-based affirmative action in college admissions.
Miranda said it was partly because of affirmative action that he was admitted into the graduate program at New York University in the 1970s.
"When my wife got pregnant in 1973, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic and the nurse told her, for the first time, 'You have a choice,'" Miranda said.
"She decided to have [the child] but she had a choice."
"To think that none of you, if we elect a certain character and there's a ban on abortion nationwide, who have less of a choice that my wife had in 1973, and the same thing with affirmative action, I am a product of something that is unlawful," he said.
"Which means that's why your life is so much more difficult, because you're gonna have to undo things that we did, that some others came and did."
Thoughts on immigration, seeking office
Miranda also answered questions from Liberty and Freedom high school students at the event.
When questioned how a younger person can bring about change to politics, he urged the students to become civically engaged.
"Run," Miranda said. "Start with your student class in your high school, and when you go to college there will be mechanisms there for you to run.
"You'll become good at it, you'll learn the mechanisms of how to run. You don't necessarily have to be able to vote to canvass your community to teach people what's happening in our country and to change minds."
He also was asked about immigration reform.
"The last immigration reform that we had in this country was done by Republican President Reagan in 1986 that provided a path to citizenship for millions of people without papers," Miranda said.
"And he did that because it's good policy. It's good for health policy. It's good for economic policy it's good for the country and it's certainly good for our community.
"But the border is a real issue. I've [gone] to states in the border and talk to elected officials who believe we need to do something there.
"We cannot just keep the doors open. But at the same time there's at least 11 or 12 million who are already here.
"And when we demonize immigrants like we are doing with the Haitian population, where they are getting threats because some imbecile running for office decided to play a hoax on all of us, at the end of the day, that is just an example of how we how demonize immigrants."
