New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently traveled to several southern cities with a folksy, personal appeal for displaced Hurricane Katrina residents to come back home.

"I miss ya’ll," Nagin told more than 2,200 New Orleans residents who are temporarily living in Atlanta and gathered at Morehouse College to hear Nagin’s one-hour plea. "Red beans and rice just ain’t the same without you. I want you back."

Nagin embarked on an unprecedented effort: taking his show on the road to convince some of New Orleans’ 500,000 residents who are scattered across 44 states to return to a city that was completely devastated by Hurricane Katrina on August 29. Today, there are only about 100,000 residents in New Orleans.

Many New Orleans residents are faced with serious challenges: On January 7, many residents will have to vacate government-paid hotels, according to federal officials.

The aftermath of Katrina has resulted in the largest displacement of black families since the Civil War. Officials in Georgia say an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 former New Orleans residents are now living in Georgia, and Nagin said he now wants all of them back in "The Big Easy."

But the mayor’s heartfelt appeals in cities like Atlanta, Memphis and Houston were met by some skepticism, criticism and anger from residents, some of them tearful, who expressed doubts about whether they can afford to live in the new, rebuilt New Orleans, whether the infrastructure is safe enough for their return, and if employers have jobs waiting for them.

And while Nagin was making his appeal to residents, members of the mayor’s constituency, black survivors of Hurricane Katrina, testified last week at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill that racism contributed to the slow disaster response, at times likening themselves in emotional terms to victims of genocide and the Holocaust. One woman suggested that Nagin resign.

Patricia Thompson, a New Orleans resident who left the city after the hurricane, didn’t hear Nagin’s appeal, but she testified at the congressional hearing about her plans.

"I’m not going back because we’re not wanted anyway," Thompson said. "I see no future for the city and no one is giving us hope."

William Spriggs, chairman of the Department of Economics at Howard University, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that he understands the "mental strain, anxiety and healing that needs to take place" among Katrina evacuees, but suggested that some should seriously consider returning home where they have a network of potential employment resources at their disposal.

"Given their unbelievable lack of success in finding jobs, it would be in their economic interest to get back, help rebuild and hook up with their old employers," Spriggs said in an interview.

"I can certainly understand people’s anxiety about what kind of city they’re coming to, but I also understand the mayor’s position. Someone has to be the first to ask people come back home."

Spriggs added that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "is also at fault."

"Why haven’t they developed a plan for housing for these folks in New Orleans?" he asked. "FEMA has not thought this through."

Last week, members of the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund testified at the hearing on Capitol Hill about housing, environmental and social service concerns, and voting rights issues facing residents returning to New Orleans.

Judith Browne, a civil rights attorney with the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund -- a grassroots organization of lawyers, activists and environmental and social justice experts – said her group is also filing a series of lawsuits to prevent landlords in New Orleans from arbitrarily evicting residents from their homes.

"There are thousands of evictions," Browne said last week during a press conference with BlackAmericaWeb.com. "People are being evicted from their homes....their belongings are being throw out on the street."

Browne said she is filing a law suit "to put a moratorium on evictions" because residents are not even aware they are being evicted. She said evacuees are being evicted from government-paid hotels on January 7, and are now being evicted from their homes in New Orleans without their knowledge. She said landlords are placing eviction notices on doors and cleaning out homes.

"We’re responding to the needs of the people....who have been forgotten and neglected by our government," Browne said.

In Atlanta recently, more than 100 people lined up to grill Nagin after his one-hour talk, with many critical of the mayor’s leadership. The response heard most often to Nagin’s appeal was this: "Go back to what?"

Nagin told residents that 70 percent of the city has electricity; 60 percent of the city has gas services; the drinking water is safe; 911 lines are operating; six hospitals are open; 1,100 business are providing services; the airport, Amtrak and Greyhound bus stations, and New Orleans Regional Transit Authority buses are operating.

But the mayor was also was forced to admit the city does have serious financial problems.

"The city is broke," Nagin told the audience. "We don’t have any money. We’re begging and borrowing from anybody who will listen."

Democrats said last week they are also concerned that because many of New Orleans’ displaced residents are blacks who historically vote Democratic, their absence from voting in upcoming elections could impact the futures of local, state and federal lawmakers.

The issue of black voters comes at a time when civil rights activists are lobbying for an extension of The Voting Rights Act, which is set to expire in 2007. Officials in New Orleans are also considering rescheduling the mayoral election by pushing it back at least eight months.

Meanwhile, the mayor got an earful last week from New Orleans residents living in Atlanta – an early indication of what voters might think of his plans to run for re-election.

"Tell the truth," some shouted at Nagin. "Answer the question."

Therese Amos,39, stood at the microphone at Morehouse College crying, according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution . She was a New Orleans sanitation worker for seven years and was laid off, the newspaper reported.

"I never missed a day [of work]," Amos said. "I ain't on welfare. I ain't on food stamps. They want to send me to the crazy house because all I do is cry."

In Memphis, Nagin spoke to a crowd of more than 700 at a Memphis church - many of them evacuees - as he continued his come-home campaign to rebuild New Orleans. He made the same plea to evacuees in Houston last weekend.

The levees that failed after Katrina hit are being repaired to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, a level of threat they were designed for but failed to withstand, Nagin said.

He said the levees must be upgraded to protect the city from a Category 5 hurricane, but it will be difficult to obtain the hundreds of millions of federal dollars necessary. Estimates for strengthening the levees to that extent have run as high as $32 billion.

Regardless, "I don't think we'll ever be in the position where when a hurricane is coming, that we'll be able to sit back and not think about evacuating," Nagin said.

Nagin sought to assure the evacuees that life in New Orleans is "getting better every day," with utilities being restored and storm debris being cleaned up.

Ashley El-Amin, 29, said she was not encouraged by Nagin's comment that fast-food restaurants and hotels are offering salaries much higher than before the hurricane.

El-Amin, a former counselor for troubled teenagers, said such jobs, despite the higher pay, "won't even pay half of my college loans."

She said she was also upset by the city's announcement that Mardi Gras, though scaled back, will take place early next year.

"This is not the time to party," she said.

Clinton Brown, 67, was also unmoved. Brown said he wants to rebuild his house on the city's badly flooded eastern side, but dealing with government officials in trying to get started has been confusing.

"I'd like to go back," Brown said. "But I don't have any better feeling now about getting back."