The mayor of New Orleans apologized last night for saying the hurricane-ravaged citywas struck by a storm as the wrath of God over US involvement in Iraq.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Mayor Ray Nagin also apologised for saying in a speech on Monday New Orleans would be rebuilt as a "chocolate" city. This comment struck a nerve, as racial tensions and concerns loom over proposed rebuilding plans from Hurricane Katrina.
Several of the hardest-hit neighborhoods were mostly black, and many residents have expressed fears that those areas will not be rebuilt while those with more white residents may be. Before the August 29th storm, New Orleans was about 70 per cent black.
"If I offended anyone, I sincerely apologize," the mayor, who is black, said on Tuesday. "I need to be more sensitive and more aware of what I'm saying.
"I want everybody to be welcome in New Orleans - black, white, Hispanic, Asian - because that's the kind of city that we deserve going forward," he said. "I was trying to, and didn't do it very well, to deal with this whole notion, the undercurrent what's being talked about, and what's being talked about is who is going to come back to New Orleans at the end of the day."
In his speech on Monday, marking the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Mr Nagin said: "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. ....This city will be chocolate at the end of the day."
Other black leaders in New Orleans said they were taken aback by Mr Nagin's remarks.