In today’s top news, the Obamas open up the White House to blues music, the Supreme Court will consider a new challenge to affirmative action and Roland Martin’s on-air apology for his offensive Super Bowl tweets is accepted by GLAAD.

The Obamas open up the White House to blues music. [BET]

The Supreme Court will consider a new challenge to affirmative action. [ABC]

Roland Martin’s on-air apology for Super Bowl tweets is accepted by GLAAD. [Reuters]

New York Mayor Bloomberg defends extensive surveillance of Muslims. [CNN]

Nigerian victims of environmental disasters and abuses are too poor to sue, say jurists. [AFP]

President Obama to break ground on National Black History Museum. [AP]

An Ohio boy brings a gun to daycare. [MSNBC]

Mariah Carey speaks on Whitney Houston’s death. [BET]

Michelle Obama’s support continues to boost J.Crew’s stock. [BET]

U.S. government backs the Red Cross’s call for an end to violence in Syria. [BBC]

Child soldiers increasingly join Somalia violence. [CNN]

By Steven Barboza, The Atlanta Post

Are buckets of chicken and wheel-sized burgers weapons of mass destruction in the black community?

Flavor Flav of Public Enemy fame has plans to open a chain of chicken joints, striving to “fight the power” of KFC by bringing the aroma of Flav-seasoned chicken to a corner near you.

If Flav’s Fried Chicken — or FFC — ends up serving good ‘n healthy meals, amen. But if it ends up being just another fast food joint, more African Americans may pack on extra pounds.

The war against obesity in black America hasn’t really gotten started yet. Every day, millions of black kids and adults walk into fast food restaurants, put a hurtin’ on some burgers, and walk out with “super-sized” bodies.

 Read the rest.

by Steven Barboza, The Atlanta Post

The Nobel Prize was established by the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist, engineer and armament manufacturer who invented dynamite.  He established the prize reportedly because a French newspaper erroneously published his obituary in 1888, calling him the “merchant of death” and saying, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.” Upon reading his own obit, he wanted to change how the world would remember him, so he decided to leave the bulk of his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.  He wanted them to be awarded annually to those who confer the “greatest benefit to mankind” without distinction of nationality.

So who was overlooked? Certainly the 12 black winners of the Nobel Prize deserved to be recognized for their world-class work and their impact on humanity. But 12 blacks out of 813 laureates? That’s less than 1.5% of all winners.

Here are a few black people who perhaps were overlooked by Nobel juries.

David Blackwell: Nobel Prize in Mathematics

The son of a railroad worker with a fourth grade education, David Blackwell is considered the greatest of all African American mathematicians and among the world’s preeminent statisticians of all time.

See who else is on the list at The Atlanta Post.

By  Charing Ball, contributor, The Atlanta Post

I know this subject is a little touchy but I’m going to ask it anyway: what is it with America’s obsession with fried chicken and black people?

I ask this after getting into a debate not too long ago via Facebook about whether or not black folks should eat stereotypical foods, such as fried chicken and watermelon, out in mixed company.  The person that I was chatting with said that he was so fearful of being stereotyped for his dietary preference that he had totally eliminated every food group that is associated with the black palette.  That means no macaroni and cheese, collard greens, sweet potato pie and definitely no fried chicken and watermelon.

I thought that this was ridiculous if not teetering on the line of paranoia.  Who cares what folks think about what you eat?  But apparently some black folks do care, so much so that they have worked themselves into a tizzy over Flavor Flav, the legendary hype man for the 80s radical rap group Public Enemy, and his new fried chicken business venture.

Read the rest at The Atlanta Post.

Taal & Antoinette Martin in front of their restaurant in China called Mexican Kitchen.

By Steven Barboza, The Atlanta Post

Within approximately a decade, China has accelerated its urban infrastructure development by creating futuristic skyscrapers and sleek, high-speed trains, resulting in the belief by many that the country has surpassed the United States in economic dominance. In fact, nearly half of Americans (47 percent) think China is the world’s leading economic power, according to a Pew survey.

It’s no surprise then that African Americans have begun to head East in search of entrepreneurial and employment opportunities. After all, the unemployment rate for blacks in the U.S. is 15.8 percent, nearly twice the rate of whites at 8.6 percent. China may have billions of people, but its unemployment rate is only 4 percent, and the demands of modernization can equate to employment if you’ve got the talent needed and the courage to make the move.

“In 2005, [my husband and I] had an opportunity to come to China via a family friend who lived here for many years, and [our friend] asked if we’d like to open a new restaurant,” said Antoinette Martin, a former food writer and New York City restaurant manager.  “I thought it would be a great opportunity.”

Read more at The Atlanta Post.

By Devin Robinson, contributor, The Atlanta Post

In order to remedy the problem with the economy, one must first understand the type of economy we are in and how we got here. There are three types of economies: agricultural, manufacturing and service economies. Nations typically transition through these economies going from agricultural to manufacturing and then finally service. Since service economies are the most profitable, nations that are in service economies are usually seen as a fully developed nation, however, being a fully developed nation comes with a price.

Read the rest at The Atlanta Post.

A study published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine says half of the nation’s children will be on food stamps at some period in their lives and that 90 percent of African-American children will utilize the program.

From HuffingtonPost.com

The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

“Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it’s not the kind of thing people want to talk about,” Rank said.

The analysis was released Monday in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors say it’s a medical issue pediatricians need to be aware of because children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty.

“This is a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children,” Rank said.

Ninety percent is a remarkable number. I’m sure the report will be analyzed and debated.

Is the story of 10 black women missing and our being found dead just a coincidence or the work of a serial killer?  And why haven’t you heard about this story on the 11pm news?

From Bossip.com

Ten women have been found slain or have been declared missing in Rocky Mount, N.C., in recent years. But the rest of the country hasn’t heard about…… a possible serial killer stalking the young women in this Southern town of 60,000. The latest victim, Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, was identified on Oct. 12. Why have the Rocky Mount homicides been largely ignored?

“When you think about the famous missing person cases over the last few years it’s Chandra Levy, Natalee Holloway, and Laci Peterson,” notes Sam Sommers, associate professor of psychology at Tufts University. All these women had a few things in common—they were white, educated, and came from middle-class families. The victims in Rocky Mount—which residents describe as a “typical Southern town,” and is about 40 percent white and more than 50 percent black—were different. They were all African-American, many were poor, and some had criminal histories including drug abuse and prostitution.

Click here to read more

The Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) pulled no punches when he met with a group of education officials.

John Wilson said in order for HBCUs to survive and compete for African-American students, the institutions have to stop whining about what they do not have and instead come up with innovative ways to raise money and recruit students.

From 2TheAdvocate.com

HBCUs must stop feeling sorry for themselves, he said, and switch their focus from playing violins to trumpets.

“We play the violin too much,” Wilson said. “We think people owe us something.”

Many HBCUs are facing financial difficulty due to declining enrollment and increasing costs. The recession has also tightened the wallets of businesses and charities that typically donate and support HBCUs.

Wilson also called out HBCU alumni who “will go to Homecoming” but refuse to give back to their alma mater.

A lot of that is a failure of the colleges to treat their students and alumni well, he said.

“If they (students) have built up an attitude with the financial aid office, which had an attitude with them, they’re going to leave here with an attitude and they’re not going to write a check,” Wilson said. “They’re going to come back for Homecoming, but they’re not going to open their checkbooks.”

Wilson is a graduate of Morehouse College.

The alarming news earlier this week that as many as 90,000 people could die from the swine flu this year has even more ominous implications for Blacks and Hispanics, a new Chicago study shows. By looking at 1,500 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus reported to the Chicago Department of Public Health from late April through late July, researchers found that Blacks and Hispanics were four times more likely than their White counterparts to wind up in the hospital. But the wide disparity likely has very little to do with genetics, experts say. The fact that Blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately from diabetes, asthma is more likely the reason for the gap, they say. “We don’t have anything definitive to say one group is more affected than another,” said Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study relied on a relatively small sample group. Of the 1,500 lab-confirmed swine flu cases, Blacks were hospitalized at a rate of nine per 100,000, Hispanics at eight per 100,000. For Whites, the rate was two per 100,000, according to the study. The Chicago study isn’t the first time race has been mentioned in context with the swine fle. In early August, health officials in Boston found that three-fourths of residents hospitalized with the virus were Black or Hispanic. “It’s very disturbing,” Barbara Ferrer of the Boston Public Health Commission, told The Associated Press. “But intuitively it’s understandable, because we have tremendous inequities in most areas of health,” said Ferrer, the agency’s executive director.