i thought hershey PA was the only chocolate city

On Monday January 16 the Mayor of New Orleans was giving a Martin Luther King Day speech when he made a contorversial remark. Mayor Ray Nagin urged the citizens of New Orleans to rebuild a "chocolate New Orleans". He also added, "You can't have New Orleans no other way." There is a much larger problem with Nagin's statement than his grammar and many local residents were sure to let him know. Resident Alex Gerhold called Nagin's remarks "stupid" and "pitiful." He made this statement: "He used the wrong dairy product to describe us. We're more Neapolitan, not chocolate. It doesn't do the city any kind of justice." Another resident had a slightly different response to the Mayor's remark. Aisha Johnson said she didn't think the mayor's comments were necessarily inflammatory, just out of line. She simply replied with, "he should have chosen his words more carefully". However other residents were very angry at the mayor and his statement. "You can't reunite a city if your comments are going to divide a city," said resident Ann McKendrick.



The Mayor apologized for his stement Tuesday by making this statement. "I'm really sorry that some people took that they way they did, and that was not my intention. I say everybody's welcome." How did expect the general public to perceive his statement? Or more importantly if "that wasn't my[his] intention' then what was his intention? I can't think of something to compare this event to. Does anyone have any ideas?