15+ Cecily McMillan Quotes On Education, Family

Cecily McMillan is an American activist and former Occupy Wall Street organizer. She is best known for her involvement in the Occupy Wall Street protests and her subsequent trial and conviction for assaulting a police officer. McMillan has since become a prominent voice in the criminal justice reform movement, advocating for prison reform and civil rights. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Cecily McMillan on education, love, leadership.

I think that by telling the truth and by attempting to be a good citizen, somehow I've ended up playing with fire. And that's really scary. — Cecily McMillan

I cannot speak adequately, especially considering my race and my privilege, to the violence of the NYPD or the police in racial terms. That is something that I cannot speak adequately to. — Cecily McMillan

I would like to start a discussion about ending solitary confinement. I'd like to start a discussion about the removal of MO wings - an "MO" is a "Mental Observation" inmate - from Rikers Island, to be set up in mental health institutions. You can't put people in jail for having mental disorders. — Cecily McMillan

I really don't feel good about leaving my house anymore. I don't feel really good about being anywhere in New York City alone anymore. — Cecily McMillan

If somebody is acting maladjusted - which means not happy to be at Rikers - the protocol, as I understand it and have been told by COs unofficially or officially, is to pepper spray that individual to sedate them. — Cecily McMillan

We're just trying to figure out what being a good citizen is, what participating in a democracy is, what taking responsibility for being an American citizen in a global context means to us. — Cecily McMillan

I had a sense that my mother was struggling, when I was a kid, working twelve hour days, making $12,000 a year with two kids in a trailer park. — Cecily McMillan

I think in short order all of us need to act like we are citizens with not only rights, but also duties. — Cecily McMillan

I think any person who goes to Rikers is criminalized, even just for visiting. I go back every week to see my friends in there. When you go to see a criminal, you are by relation a criminal and subject to be treated like one. — Cecily McMillan

My town was all-white and shut down Section 8 housing because they didn't want black people to move into the town. And I thought that was wrong - duh. — Cecily McMillan

I think the big turning moment was when I joined the student political action club and started studying nonviolent civil disobedience in response to the Iraq War. The first anti-Bush protest in Atlanta was the first protest that I'd ever been to, and I helped organize the school walkout when I was a junior. It was a really solidifying moment. — Cecily McMillan

You can't put people in jail for having mental disorders. You can't do that, and they should not be held there. They need rehabilitative therapy. — Cecily McMillan

I felt like there wasn't a political discourse. I felt like there was just one set of values, and any one set of values was wrong; that there should at least be room for conversation. — Cecily McMillan

I can be all pissed off at the oppression of the state, but what does that really mean? Well, it's the tacit consent of a public. — Cecily McMillan

Jail is just another micro-society. It just happens that here, the problems are far more out in the open, we don't live with the facades of lies that democracy or capitalism creates for us. — Cecily McMillan

Life Lessons by Cecily McMillan

1. Cecily McMillan's work as an activist has taught us the importance of standing up for what is right and fighting for justice, regardless of the consequences.
2. Her resilience in the face of adversity is an inspiration to us all, and a reminder that we should never give up on our goals.
3. Her story has also shown us the power of collective action and how working together can be an effective way to make real change.