Role of community leadership questioned in hurricane--World Peace Herald

World Peace Herald: "WASHINGTON -- Some in the black community are beginning to question what happened to the black leadership during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, especially in the city of New Orleans.

While a few black leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Congressional Black Caucus, have singled out the president for blame, others say Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who is black, is responsible for the dismal response to the flooding that stranded thousands in the city's poorest sections.

'Mayor Nagin has blamed everyone else except himself,' said the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny.

'The mayor failed in his duty to evacuate and protect the people of New Orleans. ... The truth is, black people died not because of President Bush or racism, they died because of their unhealthy dependence on the government and the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco,' he said. "