Pastor Accuses Alsip Village Officials of Discriminating Against Church

ALSIP, IL -- The pastor of a non-denominational Christian church led congregation members on an anti-discrimination prayer march Sunday afternoon to Alsip Village Hall over an alleged racial incident involving his church members and a village employee.

Rev. Dan Willis, senior pastor of Lighthouse Church of All Nations, portends to lead the largest multi-cultural church in the Chicago area, with over 6,000 members, 75 percent of whom are minorities. Willis confronted lame duck Mayor Patrick Kitching during public comments at the April 17 village board meeting.

The exchange was captured on a public access TV broadcast of last Monday's meeting. Lighthouse Church of All Nations provided an edited version of the broadcast. (The meeting can also be viewed in its entirety on the Village of Alsip YouTube channel.) Willis claimed the mayor did not return his 40 emails and phone calls to discrimination against his church members. The pastor said similar emails to village attorney Kathleen Elliott also went unanswered.

“I came to find out why when I represent 6,000 members in Alsip it would be so difficult to get response from you with regard to being placed on the agenda or to get an apology for what we consider to be racial discrimination in the city,” Willis said.

Excerpted Village of Alsip Board Meeting, April 17, 2017

Kitching told the pastor to “make your comment and sit down.”

“It’s not a debate, nobody here is answering your questions,” Kitching said. “Please sit down.”

“Does he have the right to tell me to sit down,” Willis asked.

“I have the right to have you removed,” the mayor said.

Elliott also denied receiving emails from Willis. This was the first time she became aware the church’s discrimination charges. Later, after Willis had left the meeting of his own volition, she dismissed his claims as an “attention getting pattern.”

When trustees asked the mayor why this was the first time they were hearing of the discrimination allegations, Kitching told them he was advised by the village attorney not to respond to Willis out of concerns for litigation. Trustees Kevin Michaels and Lynn Dwyer said it wasn’t right to talk about the pastor without him there.

During a fiery press conference on Sunday in front of the church’s sanctuary at 4501 W 127th St., Willis got more specific about an alleged incident which he said occurred at the church’s food pantry on Dec. 9, 2016. The pastor charged that a "Caucasian" village fire inspector showed up on the campus on the day people were lined up outside for the food pantry. The fire inspector walked around the campus unescorted by official church staff. He also told some food pantry clients that he was going to shut the food pantry down.

The only staff members the inspector spoke too, Willis claimed, were his 75-year-old receptionist and his African-American food pantry coordinator. When he called to discuss what happened with Alsip Fire Chief Tom Styczynski, Willis alleged Styczynski made a remark about his people being smarter than “your people down there.”

“We’re continually harassed as a church and it must cease,” Willis said. “All I want is an apology. You cannot be disparaging to seniors and African-Americans in this community.”

Willis said the church has a clean compliance history and is up to date on fees to the village. Mentioning Alsip Fire Chief Tom Styczynski by name several times during his reading of a written statement, he said the church is repeatedly subject to random inspections verging on harassment.

“We’ve been written up for having an extension cord hanging,” he said later. “We had a piece of burlap hanging from the ceiling in the children’s room for a tent. It’s been there for 16 years and we got written up for it.”

Willis thinks the reason why the fire department is harassing his congregation is because many of his members are persons of color.

“It’s been going on so many years,” the pastor said. “I think think they thought that perhaps because I’m Caucasian, ‘maybe he’ll go away and leave it be.’ I tried to rectify this situation with just an apology. You cannot be disparaging to minorities, Mr. Mayor. You have to take responsibility for your staff and apologize.”

Church members prayed for the mayor, village attorney and fire chief in front of the village hall.

“We love you Mayor Kitching, we love you [attorney] Kathleen Elliott, we love you Fire Chief Tom Styczynski:” Willis said.

Alsip Police Chief Christopher Radz said his department has good relations with the church, a fact affirmed by Willis who called Radz his friend. The police department was passing out Legos to the children and water after church members walked a mile to village hall. Traffic was also halted during the prayer march.

Willis taped the church’s written demands for an apology from the village, as well as the return of $38,000 in construction permit fees that the church paid when it built its sanctuary six years ago. The pastor claims theirs’ is the only church in the village in which permit fees were not waived.

Tr. Michaels said he wasn’t aware of the village waiving construction permit fees for churches and nonprofit organizations, but said fees were reduced by 50 percent for church and non-profit organizations.

Kitching will step down when Alsip Mayor-elect John Ryan takes the oath of office next month.

“It will be much different when the current mayor leaves,” Michaels said.

The Alsip mayor, village attorney and fire chief were not immediately available for comment.

COVER PHOTO: Pastor Dan Willis at Sunday Alsip Anti-Discrimination Peace March