featuring alice walker, walter mosley, randy weston, steve earle, randall robinson, and others. and we pay tribute to the late adrienne rich, whitney houston, and mark the centennial the birth of woody guthrie. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today, and a "democracy now!" special, looking back at 2012. we look at art, culture, and resistance. we begin with rattle robinson, founder and past president of transafrica, a law professor at pennsylvania state university, most recent book "makada" said at the dawn of the civil rights era following a young man coming of age in segregated richmond, virginia. through his blind grandmother and her visions, he discovers her his race and africa. he came to our studios on the eve of dr. king's birthday to talk about his new novel. he lives now in st. kitts. >> when i was a child growing up in richmond, virginia, we were called negros. no one i knew we were called that. no one knew the province of that word. it had no connection to what we might have been bef

alice walker says the most, what people give up their power is not recognizing a habit in the first place. we all have the power to make transformative change in kids lives, transformative outcomes but also we choose not to overdo engage we don't make ourselves aware programs, organizations that do that everyday spent the book includes stories about people who stepped up. a cook in new orleans post-katrina new orleans decided she's going to be a mother to a whole group of homeless kids who don't have months to a business executive in newark the sentiment a young person and want to honestly. filled with adult stepping up to be big and small things but also filled with adults who hurt kids and prioritize drugs or the careers, or some selfish interests over young people. why do you think some people step up to make a difference in the lives of kids? a lot of kids, the world wants to ignore these kids. and other people find a different path. why is that? >> so i don't know. i don't. i don't. it actually feels so good. it feels so good to do the right thing. you know, as much as people talk ab

judd gregg, a republican, alice rivlin, alan greenspan, former federal chairman, paul volcker a, a former federal chairman, michael bloomberg, mayor of new york, david walkerformer head of the gao, warren buffett -- host: tell us what you are concerned about that? caller: because that is the white elephants. this is the challenge i have for you, congressman, and for c- span. every financial person that comes on, ask them a simple question -- where would our country be today had we adopted the simpson-bowles report? we would not be in the mess we are in. the people that are on the hill that are passing all these bills would be in check. guest: for me it is simple. i would vote for simpson-bowles to better the country would be in a better position if we had adopted simpson-bowles. that is the direct answer to your question. i think mr. simpson-bowles and alan simpson are american heroes. and given a very important job. the president to sign them with a task of looking at the challenges we face as a country fiscally. he instructed them -- and this show great vision by the president -- instructed them to put together a bipartisan group of thoughtful people who