The Takeaway: Story of the Day Public Radio International and WNYC Radio

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

We all know Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech—it’s remembered nearly every January, when we celebrate the federal holiday dedicated to the civil rights activist. The speech, delivered at the 1963 March on Washington, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in August.

It turns out August 1963 wasn't the first time that King delivered that speech. A few months earlier, on June 23, Dr. King led more than 100,000 people in a march through Detroit - known as the Freedom Walk - where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech for the first time.

Journalist Tony Brown, host of the online show "Tony Brown’s Journal," coordinated Dr. King’s 1963 Freedom Walk in Detroit and witnessed the original "Dream" speech. He discusses the original speech and his realization that the words he heard that day would become part of American history.

Click on the audio player above to hear about King's speech, and listen to the full version here.

HBO's "The Sopranos" changed television, it changed the entertainment industry and actor James Gandolfini himself changed the character of the Italian-American made guy.

News broke late Wednesday that Gandolfini, who was in Italy for a film festival, died of a heart attack. He was 51.

"We're all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family," a statement from HBO says. "[Gandolfini] was a special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect. He touched so many of us over the years with his humor, his warmth and his humility. Our hearts go out to his wife and children during this terrible time. He will be deeply missed by all of us."

Today we take a look back at the impact of Gandolfini's break through role in "The Sopranos," and the cultural significance of the show in America.

We hear from listeners and chat with Chris Carley, co-owner of Holsten's, the Bloomfield, New Jersey restaurant where "Sopranos" creators David Chase filmed the series' iconic final scene.

Of the booth where the Soprano family enjoyed their final dinner onscreen, Carley says, "That booth is closed. When I found out that James had passed away, I put a 'reserved' sign on it and it's been closed since."

Click here to see a photo of the booth, reserved for Gandolfini.

In the small Mexican town of Malinalco Takeaway host John Hockenberry met Hermelinda Medina Millan. In April, 1997 when she and her husband first decided to migrate north, cross the border, and enter the United States illegally.

Her husband Anselmo Vazquez Landeros worked in the fields for a cotton grower. He drove tractors, plowed the fields laid out irrigation tubing. Life was hard, and it became even harder for Anselmo after Hermelinda decided to take Nancy back to Mexico to rejoin their two older daughters. Anselmo stayed in California, working to support the family. Six years later, he was stopped for a traffic violation, and found to have been drinking. After a year in jail, he was sent back to Mexico.

Nancy, now 15 years old, is an American citizen. She was born on American soil while her parents were undocumented in the US. But she only got six years with her father. After his deportation, carrying too much hardship and humiliation on his shoulders, Anselmo took his own life.

Today, Nancy lives in California. The rest of her family is in Mexico, including her mother and three sisters. But, she says she understands why her parents made the choices they did.

The story of Hermelinda and Anselmo's migration to the United States, his subsequent deportation, and then death, is a story of a family's separation and sacrifices-- all to chase the American dream.


 

The story of Hermelinda Medina Millan is one of the dozens of cases that come to the desk of Ellen Calmus every month.

Ellen Calmus is the director of the Corner Project, a community organization, based in Malinalco, Mexico, that helps the families of migrants to the United States.

Ellen is an American, and her job puts her front and center to the human toll that is taken when a Mexican immigrant leaves everything-- and everyone-- behind, as well as the devastation, trauma and stress that results when they are forced to turn around back home.

Was the I.R.S. correct to flag certain organizations applying for tax-exempt status for additional review?

New analysis from The New York Times finds that in many cases groups singled out by the IRS may, in fact have been involved in “improper campaign activities.”

A California group called the CVFC, for example, spent thousands of dollars on radio ads supporting Republican Congressional candidate.  Another organization called the Ohio Liberty Coalition, which has complained about the scrutiny it received, in fact canvassed for Mitt Romney in the 2012 elections, handing out door hangers. And in Alabama, a group calling itself The Wetumpka Tea Party sponsored training for a get-out-the-vote initiative for the “defeat of President Barack Obama.”

Was the scrutiny the I.R.S. applied to these groups truly inappropriate?  And how, under ordinary circumstances, does the I.R.S. go about trying to check-up on organizations that apply for tax-exempt status? As the former director of the I.R.S.’s exempt organizations division, Marcus Owens has a few ideas about how the organization is supposed to handle these kinds of cases.

Yet again the mayor of Oklahoma City has been tested and challenged by tragic circumstances. The latest giant tornado to strike the Oklahoma City area and its suburbs on Monday destroyed entire neighborhoods, leaving at least two dozen dead, and hundreds injured.

Mick Cornett, the mayor of Oklahoma City, gives an update on how his city is faring now, and what work is at the top of his to-do list.

We’ve all found ourselves in bad situations, and chosen not to get out. On a personal level, those situations might be a bad jobs or unfulfilling relationships. On a bigger level, they might be international conflicts or government cover-ups. But regardless of scope, one question persists: Why is it that we so often stay, and for so long? To quote Kenny Rogers: Why don’t we know when to walk away, or for that matter, know when to run?

Turns out there’s a reason, and that reason has a name. It’s called “the sunk cost fallacy.”

Daniel Molden is an associate professor of social psychology at Northwestern University who specializes in motivated judgment decision making, and he knows a lot about why we stay when it's not in our best interest.