New Orleans mayor says God is mad at America, blacks

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin suggested yesterday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that ''God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

''Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

''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 also promised that New Orleans will be a ''chocolate" city again.

''It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans -- the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," Nagin said. ''This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

Nagin described an imaginary conversation with King, the late civil rights leader.

''I said, 'What is it going to take for us to move on and live your dream and make it a reality?' He said, 'I don't think that we need to pay attention anymore as much about other folks and racists on the other side.' He said, 'The thing we need to focus on as a community, black folks I'm talking about, is ourselves.' "

Nagin said he also asked: ''Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood?" The reply, Nagin said, was: ''We as a people need to fix ourselves first."