Chocolate City

[PARAGON]

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<H1 class=Headline>New Orleans Mayor Sorry For 'Chocolate City' Remark</H1>



<DIV class=posted>POSTED: 9:46 am EST January 18, 2006</DIV>


</P>
<DIV class=StoryBody><B class=Dateline>NEW ORLEANS -- [/b]Mayor
Ray Nagin is apologizing for his Martin Luther King Day speech in New Orleans.


</P>Some people were offended after he predicted New Orleans would be a
"chocolate" city again.


</P>Nagin now said he "said some things that were totally inappropriate." He
explained that his speech was directed to a mostly black audience, many of whom
worry they will be shut of the city's rebirth.


</P>Nagin said he meant that blacks were central to the city's history and
culture and ought to be lured back.


</P>New Orleans was more than 65 percent black before Hurricane Katrina
forced about three-quarters of the population to flee. Most of the 125,000 or so
people who have returned are white.


</P>Nagin also apologized for asserting that "God was mad at America."


</P>Nagin said he was caught up in the moment and "said some things that were
totally inappropriate."


</P>During the speech, Nagin, who is black, said the hurricanes that hit the
nation in quick succession were a sign of God's anger toward the United States
and toward black communities, too, for their violence and infighting. He also
said New Orleans has to be a mostly black city again because "it's the way God
wants it to be."


</P>Nagin now said his comments about God were inappropriate and stemmed from
a private conversation he had with a minister.</DIV></table>