In a whirlwind tour of Chicago churches Sunday, Mayor Eugene Sawyer called for unity to solve citywide problems while insisting that his church visits were not part of a political campaign.
Throughout the day, Sawyer was followed by the shadow of Ald. Timothy Evans (4th), considered a likely candidate for mayor in the special election expected to be held next year. The mayor, though, tried to downplay his competition with Evans during this ”Campaign for Unity Tour” weekend, sponsored by a coalition of 90 churches and synagogues.
Traveling to the South Side, Sawyer visited Evans` own church only hours after the alderman had been there to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding in this country of the African Methodist Episcopal church.
About 50 people in the congregation at Grant Memorial A.M.E. Church, 4017 S. Drexel Blvd., stood when Sawyer arrived, but the other 350 people remained seated, offering only polite applause.
Sawyer had said earlier that his church appearances were not intended to counteract Evans` political maneuvering of the day before. On Saturday, Evans visited the 6th Ward, Sawyer`s home base, as part of a voter-registration drive.
Sawyer said the weekend`s events were scheduled long before Evans made the 6th Ward appearance.
The mayor said that he did not feel hatred or animosity toward Evans and said that increased voter registration would help him as well.
Sawyer said throughout the day that visiting churches had no political advantage for him. If he wanted to do something political, he added, he could do it without the church meetings.
In his speech at Grant Memorial, Sawyer urged the crowd to be ”drum majorettes” for the city and to join in his call for unity.
After his comments from the podium, Sawyer was approached by reporters who asked if Evans` earlier visit to the church gave political overtones to his appearance.
”I didn`t make it that way,” Sawyer said. ”I have been preaching one message, and that is unity and bringing Chicago together.”
The mayor said he was satisfied with his reception at the church, explaining that the church coalition, called the Interfaith Planning Group, had scheduled the stop.
Asked if he had been bending over backward to be fair to Evans, Sawyer re- sponded, ”I`m fair to everyone.”
At the day`s first stop, at Lawndale Interracial Missionary Baptist Church, 1227 S. Independence Blvd., Sawyer sounded a theme that he would reiterate throughout the day: that city neighborhoods should unify to overcome such problems as homelessness, infant mortality, drugs and lack of public safety.
”There`s no reason we can`t have the best school system in the country,” he said, though he did not offer specific proposals for improving conditions.
”We don`t need a West Side, a South Side and a North Side. We need a city that works together,” he said, standing under a banner that read
”Chicago Unity Weekend. One City, One People, Working Together.”
The banner and the weekend of church visits was organized by the Interfaith Planning Group, a group of city priests, pastors and rabbis. The coalition was formed to try to overcome divisions and end hostilities after the City Council fight over mayoral succession following Mayor Harold Washington`s death.
Sawyer received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 100 at the Lawndale church, a reponse that was topped in his next stop, at a West Side Hispanic church.
As he arrived at Bethesda Church, 4020 W. Division St., Sawyer received a standing ovation by more than 200 people from the Spanish-speaking congregation.
The mayor received a plaque in appreciation for his city service and joined hands with a circle of preschoolers who sang, ”We Will Stand.”
”You`re my brother. You`re my sister, so take me by the hand,” Sawyer sang. He later told the congregation, ”We are working to extend our hands to make this one city. We don`t want to just have a unity weekend. We want to have unity every day.”
