New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Backtracks on Inflammatory Comments

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, already the target of intense criticism for his mishandling of the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina, has again drawn fire from the media and the public because of shocking comments made during his speech at a Martin Luther King Day rally.

"I used some analogies and probably didn’t hit the mark on my message," Nagin told reporters Tuesday. "But I never intended to offend anyone." Apparently Nagin needs a new dictionary to look up the meaning of offend. "Surely God is mad at America," Nagin said during his speech while he and other city and state leaders spoke to commemorate martin Luther King Day. "He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves," he said.

Nagin’s speech also contained statements saying that God wanted New Orleans to be principally a black city. Reporters said that he had also commented to an aide that hopefully New Orleans will be a "chocolate city" again. "If I could take anything back, that’s what I would take back," Nagin told reporters. "That was a private conversation I had with a minister a couple of weeks ago. For some reason, and at the moment, that came forth."

Nagin said that his comments were intended to comfort blacks by repeatedly emphasizing that they are welcome in New Orleans. The mayor explained that he had been frustrated by the violence seen in New Orleans in the weeks following the hurricanes, and his comments evolved from the confusion among many people about only selected people being allowed back into the devastated city.

In defending himself against the harsh criticism, the mayor said, "I think if they look at the entire context of what I said, they’ll understand the points I was trying to make." An easy defense to offer, except when offensive comments aren't really presented in any particular context. "How do you make chocolate?" Nagin said during his speech. " You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about."