the chocolate city speech is the nickname that some people have given to the martin luther king, jr. day speech by ray nagin, mayor of new orleans, louisiana, on january 16, 2006. the speech concerned race politics in new orleans several months after hurricane katrina destroyed much of the city. the reference is to the occurrence of the phrase "chocolate city" in nagin's speech, which was one of several points in the speech that occasioned significant controversy and raised accusations of racism against mr. nagin.