Sooji Nam reports on a phone booth opening a line of communication between Democrats in San Francisco and Republicans in Texas.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – As part of the country’s 40th federal observance of Martin Luther King Junior Day, the leader of the civil rights movement was honored with several community events in San Francisco on Monday, but the focus of participants was on the perceived state of the country decades after the civil rights movement of the ’60s began.

A 1.5 mile march commemorating MLK Jr.’s march in Selma started at the Caltrain station on Fourth Street and ended at Yerba Buena Gardens, attracting hundreds from all walks of life.

Many attendees used the moment to protest recent events.

Christin Feuerstrauter, who marched with her husband, said this was a way for her to join others saddened by the events in Minneapolis. 

“We needed someplace to go to be part of a greater community to give us some hope,” she said. 

City Leaders promise to uplift Black community

At Yerba Buena Gardens, speakers including Mayor Daniel Lurie, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and civil rights activist Rev. Dr. Amos Brown focused on themes like justice, interfaith, and unity.

Lurie spoke about supporting residents of the Fillmore with more access to housing and making sure there is equal access across all racial identities.

Tyree Leslie, who waved a Black Power Pride flag throughout the march, said it was meaningful for him as he recalled marches in Washington D.C.

“It takes me back to realizing we all should be in solidarity with everybody’s struggle,” he said.

Brown, who studied under Dr. King, gave a short benediction to conclude the program.

“There will be no squatter’s rights for hate in San Francisco,” said Brown, referencing civil rights leader and theologian Howard Thurman’s 1946 essay The Fascist Masquerade. “No squatter’s rights for injustice in San Francisco, no squatters rights for homophobia in San Francisco, No squatters right in San Francisco for any xenophobia. [00:06:49][15.0]
 

Peaceful protests from marchers

Many participants carried political signs and shared what they think MLK Jr. would say today about the recent events.

“I think he’d be proud of how far we’ve come but still disappointed of not being where we should be at,” said Derrick Moon.

“He probably wouldn’t be as pleased as he would like to be,” said Leslie.

Many said they believed he’d be courageously and peacefully standing with the marginalized.

“Thinking back of what other people have done for our country, the courage they showed us and feeling like we need to do the same in this moment,” said Feuerstrauter.

Throughout the event, a choir from Glide Memorial Church sang the anthem song rooted in gospel protest, We Shall Overcome.

The event concluded with live music and the promise from city leaders to uplift the Black community with more access to housing and resources.

SAN FRANCISCO – A social experiment is underway on the streets of San Francisco, aimed at connecting a country that at times seems so far apart. It all starts with picking up the phone. 

‘Party line’

On Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, this ringing phone hopes to connect the nation in a way many feel has been lost.

A modified pay phone says “talk to a Republican.” On the other end, the phone is connected to a phone in Abilene, Texas, one of the most politically conservative parts of the country, where it says “talk to a Democrat.” 

The hope is, the phone will ring and someone will pick it up. 

Pick up the phone

The phone line just opened up over the weekend and is already creating conversations.  

Steven Bednarczyk picked up the phone and began talking about one of the big issues that has split the country. 

“Politics,” he told the person on the other end of the call. “All they do is divide, and we just lose.”

The telephone social experiment by Matter Neuroscience is called The Party Line, aimed at creating a way to bridge a gap that has grown in this country, and has sometimes split families down political lines.  

Organizers took two old pay phones and repurposed them with a note explaining what they were doing. 

In an Instagram post, Matter Neuroscience said, “It also says the goal for this project, which is to have people from different places have meaningful conversations, because hostile political discourse increases our brains’ cortisol levels and suppresses happiness.”

The phone on Valencia St. is located outside Black Serum Tattoo and was placed there with permission from the shop’s owners. 

A path towards healing

Bednarczyk, the caller, said there is so much rhetoric dividing the country and families, the phones may be a path toward healing. “It’s brutal the divisions that this is doing and until it hits close to home, people aren’t going to realize. But, this, this is kind of bringing people closer in a way.”

Instead of waiting for a call, Dakota picked up the phone herself. 

“So, this is super cool,” she told the woman on the other end of her call. They talked for a few minutes, and at the end of the call, Dakota said there wasn’t a big political difference between them. She said the phones can help show that we have more that unites us than divides us. 

“I would also like to think that someone who answers the phone, even if they are very conservative, it would still be a human-to-human interaction and walls would be dropped, which I think is really fun,” Dakota said. 

Organizers are recording the calls, hoping for connections that may show the world that even in two places separated by politics and 1,500 miles, we are more alike than different. Matter Neuroscience hopes to highlight some of those positive calls on their social media.