Our kids' lives depend upon keeping them safe. That has to be a fundamental duty and responsibility for me as mayor. That means we have to continue hard but necessary work of bridging the divide between police and communities they serve.

More Quotes by Lori Lightfoot

Make no mistake about it: Change is hard, but change is necessary.

Retired public service workers make up the backbone of the middle class in so many of our communities.

My view is I should have been Miss Massillonian, and I wasn't. I think the reason I wasn't was because I was black. Frankly, I was told later I should have been. But they were afraid if they elected a black girl as Miss Massillonian, it would have been a scandal.

If people don't feel safe, they're not going to have hope.

Fundamentally, if people don't feel like their lives are valued and they don't value their lives, they're not going to value their neighbors' lives.

And I would like to have a good, productive relationship with members of the City Council, but I'm not going to allow them to undermine what the people's choice was and what the people want, which is change.