They are haunting images, these scenes of the hungry and homeless, of dead bodies in wheelchairs and people flagging desperately for help from the rooftops of water-choked homes.

Charles Wiley is haunted by them because they are images from his hometown, New Orleans, and because the faces of those suffering are faces like his own.

"What are they calling them, refugees?" said Wiley, 51, who lives in the Central Area. "The only reason I can think of why these people have been left to suffer is because they are almost all black.

"It's racist — flat out."

It's a conclusion other black residents of Seattle were reaching as they watched the horrific scenes of devastation left across the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. Their voices joined with those from elsewhere in the country in criticizing the U.S. government's slow response to the victims, the majority of whom are black.

Some, including local political and community leaders, were unwilling to call the government's action racist, suggesting it might be more a case of incompetence.

But others compared the government's performance this week to its faster response to the devastating hurricanes that hit South Florida last year. They pointed out that the states in Katrina's path don't have the money and political connections that Florida does. Many were especially critical of President Bush.

"I see people dying — old people, babies," said Bill Sorden, 48, of Fremont, the vice president of a local production company.

"It's just a terrible situation down there. And the government's response seems to be let those people hang — they're poor and black."

Rosalund Jenkins, executive director of the State Commission on African American Affairs, said: "I'll say it if nobody else is willing. I happen to think if those tens of thousands had been 90 percent white and 10 percent black instead of the other way around, the government's response would've been faster."

Jenkins also objects to calling the displaced residents refugees: "They are ... American citizens from one of the nation's most notable cities. It's not as if they're refugees from the Third World."

Sorden said it's embarrassing that it took an outcry from the public for the government to finally act.

He blames a combination of class and race. "There's a lot more money in Florida than in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama," Sorden said.

"Everyone knows the make-up of that area; there's not a lot of money down there. Not a lot of people had money or the means to evacuate. The government should have been there to help with the evacuation. Instead they got caught with their pants down."

In Seattle, listeners called an urban radio station Friday morning to offer their opinions and their help.

King County Councilman Larry Gossett, who, along with other local black leaders was a guest on KRIZ later on Friday, said many callers had urged the black community "to do something" since it was apparent the government was not.

Gossett said victims' chants of, "Send us help, send us help" have reinforced the imagery that the only people not being helped are the black and poor "who didn't have the money or connections to get out of New Orleans quickly."

Still, Gossett is trying to stay positive and proactive, though "I feel race and class matters in most things in this society, and this situation is no exception."

Rob Daniels, 39, is a stylist at Mana Beauty Salon in the Central Area. He moved here from New Orleans nine years ago, and said he has two sisters and two aunts there whom he had not been able to reach.

Other members of his family evacuated before the storm.

He's trying to remain optimistic, but "these aren't just images on TV," he said, placing his hand over his heart. "It hits me here."

Daniels said that like others, he's disturbed by the images of looting and reports of rapes and other crimes — victim-on-victim. He doesn't defend any of it but said that, having lived there, he understands why it happens. "There are many poor blacks in New Orleans who are desperate and don't see opportunities for themselves. This is their way of responding to that."

Pat Calvin, a Central Area resident, said, "This is America; it shouldn't be happening here."

Calvin said her 17-year-old son has been unable to reach his father and grandmother in New Orleans.

"You'd think we'd at least have the same level of response that they had after the tsunami."

Frank Graves, 12, used an analogy to make a point: "Sometimes you see a flier up with a picture of a white kid who's missing, and the next thing you know, it's on the news.

"Well, I know that there are hundreds of black kids who go missing every day and nothing ever gets said about them."

Samuel Hargrove of SeaTac blamed what he calls a racist Bush administration.

"This has been going on all our lives; this is nothing new," Hargrove said. "It's just the same old game: All for me and my people, and forget about those who don't look like me. It's social and economic oppression."

Jerry Laners, pastor of Cherry Hill Missionary Baptist Church in the Central Area, said Bush should "hang his head in shame, with all the rest" responsible for the failure to respond swiftly.

"What you have is an area that's [predominantly] black, and other people want that property. What do you think is going to happen when this is over? New Orleans will come back, but it won't be the same. They will have displaced all those poor people."

Everett Burd, who moved from New Orleans to Seattle in 1967, blamed incompetence for the slow response.

"I look at the TV news and I see both black and white victims," he said. "Everyone is hurting. I get sick of crying racism all the time. At a time like this, everyone should come together."