Former President Bill Clinton, who was blasted by Black leaders for his campaign tactics during his wife’s run against Barack Obama, is back to the kind of talk that made him a star in the Black community. On Saturday, during Major League Baseball’s Beacon Awards Luncheon in Cincinnati, Clinton said that racial equality in America is still a long way off – despite the election of Obama as president. Read more.

 In an “open letter to President Barack Obama,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson asked that the new commander in chief use his position to elevate opportunities and ensure long-overdue justice for people of color and poor people of every race. “Now that we have made it through the courtship of the primary season, the engagement party in Grant Park on November 4th, and the wedding on January 20th, we’re entering into marriage – the final stage, one that is full of challenges. … It’s high noon in our politics, where hope abounds.” Read what else he said here.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, hoping to curtail Chicago’s rising murder rate among Black youths, is demanding stiffer gun-control laws. “We cannot just continue to mourn the deaths of our youth – our future; we must begin to march and fight for better gun laws,” Jackson said. “Chicago does not manufacture these weapons, we know where they are coming from and yet not a single gun shop has been closed.” Jackson joined Michele DeLashment, whose son, Kermit, became the city’s 500th homicide victim Monday, WBBM reports. “On Monday, someone took my son’s life. I am asking – pleading – for that someone to come forth. Turn yourself in to Rev. Jackson here at Rainbow PUSH or the police,” she said. DeLashment, 21, was the grandson of Mickey Warren, a longtime friend and associate of Rev. Jackson. The young man’s mother is a long time PUSH supporter and choir member. “We have put forth a plan that is absolutely a sure way to stop easy access to guns,” she said.  “We have the power to stop putting dangerous weapons in the hands of dangerous persons, if we create and implement concrete gun laws. Illinois has not tried good gun laws, and the laws currently in place have huge loopholes.”

Revs. Jesse and Al say their activist  work will continue. The two highest profile civil rights leaders in the nation, the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, say their roles will not change as America ushers in its first Black president. ”The issues haven’t gone away,” Sharpton told the Wilmington Journal. ”Barack Obama said this is the beginning of change. This is not change itself. It’s almost insulting to act like Blacks should now shut up just because we have a Black president.” Read the rest here.

Rev. Jackson is concerned over Bush’s orders. President Bush’s executive orders could hamper those of incoming President Barack Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Sunday. “Bush is signing away consumer and environmental laws. I mean they’re running amok, you know,” Jackson said of the Bush administration’s final months in office. Read the rest here.

Jackson-Obama flap heats up as Jesse issues a denial

. Barack Obama’s campaign gave a swift response Wednesday to comments that the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was said to have made to The New York Post over Obama’s foreign policy plans. The Post reported that Jackson said that an Obama White House would no longer be friendly to Israel. John McCain’s campaign seized on the remarks to suggest that his Democratic opponent would not be a strong supporter of Israel if elected president, while Jackson issued a statement saying he had been misquoted and his comments distorted.  The Obama campaign has furiously denied the charge and said it will continue to support Israel. Read his statement here.

Congressman Jesse Jackson is helping a teen find bone marrow.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. is kicking off a drive today for bone marrow that could save the life of 17-year-old Justin Thornton.  Jackson will be joined at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. The bone marrow drive will last noon to 4 p.m. in room 156. The drive will begin by Jackson swabbing the cheek of the Surgeon General of the United States, Adam M. Robinson, Jr.   Because tissue types are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race and ethnicity.   Thus, as an African American, Justin is much more likely to match someone who also is African American.