(NNPA)—When first lady Michelle Obama decided to launch the “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity, she brought much needed attention to a crisis facing millions of children. It’s a special concern for children of color because new research shows Black and Hispanic children are disproportionally at risk for nearly a dozen factors that increase their chances to be obese. But children of color are far from the only ones in danger. Experts estimate one-third of American children are currently overweight or obese, and these rates have tripled among children ages 12 to 19 since 1980. Some adults may see a heavy child as a sign of a healthy eater, or think that for children, extra weight is mainly just a cosmetic issue. But serious risks for overweight children go far beyond appearance.

The percentage of high school students who went on to college or trade school within a year of finishing high school climbed from 47 percent in 1973 to 67 percent in 2007. That’s good news; our students are falling behind other industrialized nations in terms of graduation rates and we must play catch up. The bad news is that many young people, gifted in their own ways, don’t feel college is for them simply because they don’t thrive in the classroom.

I’m not crazy about congressional Democrats right now.

As I write this, congressional Democrats are engaged in a furious partisan battle to pass their idea of health care reform. Alas, it is an idea the majority of Americans do not share. It is in fact an idea that the majority of congressmen do not share, which is why President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are twisting arms, bribing, cajoling and threatening all manner of mischief in order to eke out a majority vote—or non-vote—on a bill the people have made clear they do not want. They may succeed.

(NNPA)—This week, the National Urban League will join the Congressional Black Caucus in a “jobs surge” hearing on Capitol Hill to listen directly to some of the more than 15 million Americans, a disproportionate number of whom are African-American and Hispanic, who are struggling to survive in the wake of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.