Milwaukee activist and avid motorcyclist Robert Miranda stands outside the Harley-Davidson Museum. He is an outspoken critic of the city’s abundant lead hazards. (Photo by Julius Shieh)
By Julius Shieh
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Throughout his life, Robert Miranda has served many different roles.
Some know him as a motorcyclist. Having been vice president of the Latin American Motorcycle Association’s Milwaukee chapter, Miranda has crossed the country several times on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Others know him as a leader and innovator in the community. Aside from working as executive director of Esperanza Unida, a nonprofit labor organization that served Milwaukee’s South Side for decades, Miranda has also been recognized by the United Migrant Opportunity Services, or UMOS, with a Community Service Award and as Hispanic Man of the Year.
Many more see him as a leader – Miranda served as the first Latino student body president at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, helping establish programs such as U-PASS, in which students can access free transportation on Milwaukee city buses.
But even with a lifetime of accolades and achievements, Miranda prides himself most on fighting for his community, having dedicated himself to causes such as Milwaukee’s decades-old lead contamination problem.
His passion for these issues, Miranda said, stems from a belief that change can happen and that it is worth fighting for.
“We’re all in this together, and we all share the same ground,” Miranda said. “All we can do is to improve things so that we can improve our quality of life.”
‘The importance of community’
Miranda credits his instinct for activism to his upbringing. Growing up in Chicago and attending a Catholic school, Miranda said, cemented many of his views.
“Social issues and social justice were ingrained in me,” he said. “This helped me build an understanding of the importance of community.”
Manny Perez, who formerly served as secretary of the state Department of Workforce Development, has worked with Miranda numerous times over the years.
He described Miranda as dedicated, honorable and forward-thinking.
“Robert, as an individual, has been a true leader,” Perez said. “His primary interest and priority has always been the improvement of conditions for the community at large.”
Serving in the Marines taught him many of his ideals, Miranda said. What he did there “was about protecting the community.”
The Marines provided a cause and a fighting energy, Miranda said. Now he seeks to “fight to improve what is going on in the community.”
Since then, his advocacy has largely featured issues that impact the people and community around him, extending to advocacy for incarcerated people, education and the environment.
“For me, if things in the community improve, my quality of life improves too,” Miranda said.
“Safer streets, better schools, clean water – all of this is a part of the quality of life that I can see and that I can enjoy.”
A focus on lead
For nearly a decade, Miranda served as a Marine at Camp Lejeune, a military base in North Carolina. Camp Lejeune, later designated a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency, was found to have dangerous water contamination, exposing an estimated 1 million Marines and their families to chemicals causing cancer and other health conditions.
“From 1980 to 1987, I was on that base drinking that water,” Miranda said. “A lot of people were getting cancer. A lot of people were going home.”
Drinking the contaminated water caused him health problems that live on to this day, he said. But knowing what happened at Camp Lejeune also brought him an awareness of issues with pollution around other parts of his life.
After hearing about lead poisoning issues in cities like Washington, D.C., Miranda started researching and looking into the problem closely.
“It really piqued my interest because of what I was going through,” Miranda said. “I started looking into it and I started seeing a lot of correlations between my experiences.”
Over a decade after Miranda started researching the lead issue, he remains a staunch advocate for clean water and clean-living environments.
Miranda’s work has put him at the front lines, leading efforts with the Freshwater for Life Action Coalition and the Get the Lead Out Coalition.
He has been an outspoken critic of Milwaukee’s abundant lead hazards, having called for lead-free drinking water and living environments years before citywide efforts to address the lead problem.
“He anticipated conditions before his time,” Perez said. “He sees many things before other people.”
Fighting for a clean environment means more to Miranda than himself or his own past.
“It’s about community,” Miranda said. “This is about our babies, our children – the future of this city.”
Future generations
One of the most important aspects of a community, are its future generations, Miranda said. Ending lead poisoning is such a focus for him because of how much it could help children and young people.
Miranda cites research studies about lead’s negative effects, especially on the harm that it can bring as a neurotoxin. Eliminating lead, he said, could help improve children’s education and eventually lower violence levels.
In doing this work, Miranda also hopes to lift up others in the community and encourage them to use their own voices.
His advice to the next generation?
“Watch out for yourself, but also watch out for your community.”
Miranda acknowledges that this isn’t always an easy task.
“If you want to make real change, get ready to be challenged,” he said. “You have to stand strong on your own merits and realize that it’s not about you, but it’s about lives in our community and improving things for families, neighborhoods and schools. These are the things that make our city stronger.”