HALIFAX - A debate is raging over the appointment of a white woman to head an agency that's looking at the destruction of a Halifax-area black community.
Halifax lawyer and human rights activist Rocky Jones is calling for the dismissal of Carole Nixon as executive director of the Africville Heritage Trust.
Jones says hiring the Ontario Anglican priest ignored the sensitivities of some in the local black community.
He suggests Nixon will be unable to relate to, and fully understand, the racism the residents of Africville faced.
Africville was set up in Halifax's north end by former slaves in the early 1800's.
Municipal officials had it torn down in the 1960's to make way for a new bridge across Halifax harbour
Nixon says she plans to see the job through and doesn't take the calls for her to step down personally.
The uproar over her hiring prompted a flurry of letters in the Halifax Chronicle Herald yesterday.
Some accuse Jones of ignoring the fact the world has moved on.
