Rev. Jesse Jackson lies in repose at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago | Day 2

A speaker at the memorial defined true leadership not by a person's individual accomplishments or acquisitions, but by their capacity to inspire others to act, achieve, and strive for self-improvement. Reverend Jackson exemplified this by motivating individuals, including former drug addicts and marginalized youth, to embrace their inherent worth and contribute to a better world.

The greatest of man is not in the great things that he has done... But the true witness of a man is in what he inspires others to do... to achieve. And in how he is trying his others to do better than its dear brothers and sisters.

Reverend Jackson directly confronted the notion that marginalized communities, particularly Black children, are inherently incapable of learning due to social conditions. He argued that if individuals can excel physically (run faster, jump higher) despite inadequate diets, they possess the innate capacity to learn academically. He also reframed "foreign policy" as deeply personal to Black Americans, citing their historical experiences from slavery to military service and consumer choices (e.g., buying foreign cars).

If we can run faster and jump higher and shoot a basketball straight off of inadequate diets, then we can read and write and count and think of those same diets. All that can happen. You want somebody who marched for you to get the right to vote? You got a choice. You want somebody who challenged corporate America to hire you and give you contracts? You got a choice. It's choice time. All this talk about qualification. What the blacks know about foreign policy? It's an insult. I was 3 years old. I came into my consciousness. My daddy was coming home from the wall foreign policy... When you buy Honda and Toyota, that's foreign policy.

Jackson used the "David and Goliath" metaphor to emphasize the latent political power within unregistered and disengaged communities. He highlighted how presidential elections were won by narrow margins, while millions of eligible Black, Hispanic, and student voters remained unregistered. He urged these groups to "pick up your slingshot, pick up your rock" (register and vote) to shift political outcomes and fight for their interests.

Reagan won Massachusetts by 2500 votes... there were over 100,000 students unregistered, over 50,000 blacks, over 50,000 Hispanics. He won by 2500. Tenned state rocks just laying around. He won Illinois by 300,000 votes, 800,000 unregistered blacks. 500,000 Hispanics rocks just laying around... Pick up your slingshot. Pick up your rock. Declare, 'Our time has come. A new day has begun.'

Jackson shared his deeply personal story of being born to a teenage mother, adopted, and growing up in poverty without a stable father figure. He used his own experiences of abandonment, being called "nothing," and living in a three-room house with an outdoor bathroom to connect with and validate the struggles of those labeled "outcasts" or "underclass." His message was that if he could overcome these origins to achieve prominence, anyone could.

I was born a teenage mother. Who was born that teenage mother? I understand. I know abandonment and people being mean to you and saying you're nothing and nobody and can never be anything. I understand. Jesse Jackson is my third name. I'm adopted... I wasn't born in the hospital. Mama didn't have insurance. I was born in the bed at house. I really do understand. Born in a three-room house. Bathroom in the backyard... When you see Jesse Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination. I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me. And it wasn't born in you, and you can make it.

Jackson argued that the welfare crisis was often mischaracterized as a predominantly Black issue, despite numerically more white people being on welfare. He called this misrepresentation "institutional as well as overt racism." He proposed that tax reform, specifically closing over $40 billion in tax loopholes, could eliminate the need for welfare and generate a new job market, shifting focus from welfare dependency to job creation.

You can't deal politically with welfare unless we raise it above the level of a black issue. Numerically more white folks on welfare than black folk. There have always been more white folks on welfare than black folk. Welfare came in existence for white folk. Always been run by white folk. And if it's messed up, it's because all white folk. And therefore, when Time magazine and Newsweek talks about the welfare crisis and puts a black family on the cover and project into your mind that welfare is black and synonymous, that is the evidence of institutional as well as overt racism... more than $40 billion in tax loopholes enough to wipe out the welfare system and create a complete new job market.