TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/caps/86/86cappeo.2

Text File | 1992-09-25 | 5.6 KB | 110 lines

                                                                                June 9, 1986

NATION

Hands Across America


It was an idea just as broad and almost as hyperbolic as
America. On Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend, nearly
5 1/2 million people joined hands along a 4,152-mile line across
the country to raise funds--and consciousness--for fighting
hunger and homelessness in the U.S. Participants linked up for
15 minutes and sang We Are the World, the Hands Across America
theme and America the Beautiful, joyfully celebrating the day
and the togetherness "from sea to shining sea."

Strictly speaking, it was not Hands all the way Across America.
There were wide gaps in many spots outside the
celebrity-studded cities, even though toward the end, organizers
relaxed their requirement of a prior pledge in order to swell
the ranks. Some $20 million in contributions had been promised
by handholding time, and though it will be weeks before the
gifts can be totaled, officials still hope for their $50 million
goal.

For all the comparative hype and hugeness of Hands, it worked
largely through the many small decisions to join in. The tingle
of an unbroken cross-continental touch may have been missed, but
along the way there was much to find touching. Following the
plan of Organizer Ken Kragen, who had also headed the USA for
Africa campaign, the line began and ended with homeless people.
In New York City's Battery Park was Amy Sherwood, 6, who until
last month had been living with her mother and two sisters in
a Manhattan welfare hotel. Little Amy also came to symbolize
opportunity:  she has signed a talent-agency contract that may
soon bring her wide smile and pigtails to TV commercials.

From Amy, 200,000 New Yorkers, nine deep in some places, wound
up Manhattan's West Side and over the George Washington Bridge
to New Jersey. A 50-yd. stretch near Newark threatened to be
the first gap, but at the last minute people in line stopped a
commuter bus; the 40- plus passengers all cheerfully piled out
to fill the hole. The first breaks developed in Pennsylvania,
but the line wound south to Washington, where it was routed
through the White House. Persuaded at the last minute by his
daughter Maureen to take part, President Reagan stood somewhat
stiffly among staff members' children and friends, using a crib
sheet for some lyrics but needing no help for a flawless
rendition of America the Beautiful--both verses. (Across from
the White House, protesters demonstrated against the
President's policies toward the homeless.)

As the line looped back up toward Chicago, seals and killer
whales joined in a Cleveland's Sea World, but the absence of
humans became increasingly noticeable. Tinny portable-radio
broadcasts of the music got little response from clumps of
handholders. "Is it over yet?" many asked.

In the rolling country on both sides of the Mississippi, a
low-key picnic atmosphere was typical in many spots, with
impromptu bluegrass or pop concerts. In Memphis even Elvis
joined up as one fan grabbed the hand of his statue and another
his leg. In the farm town of Lonoke, Ark., the throng that had
gathered un-ashamedly shouted out "I love America!" on cue.

Often little knots of people at highway interchanges formed a
symbolic presence, but hardly anyone regretted showing up. "It
was worth it," said John Peller in Dallas. "It was over fast,
but I'm glad I came."  Singers Kenny Rogers and Lee Greenwood
drew a crowd of 8,000 at the Texas-New Mexico border, and I-40
near Albuquerque had its biggest traffic jam in years. After
some long, unpopulated stretches of California desert, a crowd
of 6,000 gathered near the Long Beach pier. At the end of a
string of celebrities was Unemployed Shelter Resident Bill Jones
with his wife Mary and their five children.

Kragen dismissed those calling Hands Across America "a
quick-fix spectacle."  It is a beginning, he argues. "I don't
want to look back in five years and say, 'Gee, remember when we
stood in line?'  I want to look back and say that was when
everybody got together and decided once and for all to do
something about hunger and homelessness."

Outside the U.S. on the same day, Hands Across America was
dwarfed by Sport Aid, the latest campaign for African famine
relief by British Rock Star Bob Geldof, of Band Aid and Live Aid
fame. Sport Aid, cosponsored by the United Nations Children's
Fund, attracted 20 million in 78 countries to 10-km "races
against time" and other events, leading to as much as $150
million in pledges.

Sudanese Runner Omar Khalifa was the centerpiece of the
activities, carrying a torch first lighted in a refugee camp in
his home country, through twelve European capitals in eight
days, and meeting with royalty and heads of state. Finishing
at United Nations headquarters just before that body began a
special session on Africa, Khalifa lit a symbolic flame to set
off synchronized runs around the world. Sizable crowds turned
out in Paris, Warsaw, Budapest; more than 200,000, including
Geldof, took part in London. Thailand's Prime Minister and the
President of the African state of Burkina Faso, with his entire
Cabinet, joined the throngs.

Competing with the better-publicized Hands happening, however,
Sport Aid drew thin crowds in the U.S.:  only 4,000 runners took
part in New York City's race. Said Geldof, summing up the two
megaevents: "We talk about Africa; they talk about America. But
it's the same thing. We are raising money on the same day
against hunger and poverty."

--By Sara C. Medina.  Reported by Cathy Booth/New York and
Richard Woodbury/Los Angeles,   with other bureaus