‘It’s completely racist’: Education activist slams school board pushing to give extra pay based on skin color

Earlier in December, a school board in Minnesota voted to provide an additional stipend to teachers of color if they take on the task of mentoring fellow non-white educators. The policy was adopted as a "retention strategy," with the hopes of creating an environment where teachers of color can feel less isolated.

Education advocate Cynthia Garrett, on the other hand, sees the policy as nothing more than racist.

Speaking on FOX News, Garrett decried the policy. "It's an attempt to return to something dangerous," she said, referring to the segregating of teachers based on the color of their skin.

She then brought up the story of Ruby Bridges, the civil rights icon who at age six fought for desegregation of America's schools, and became the first African-American student to attend an integrated school in the south.

Integration is about realizing that "support comes in all ages, races, shapes, and sizes," Garrett said. "Yes, you can find something in common with people that look like you, but that's not what we're really here for. What about the big melting pot of America? This is a country that is built on a shared experience."

"This same language that these people are using in this school board meeting," Garrett continued, "will be used in exactly the same way as it slides down this slippery slope to 'Well these children don't feel good; they need to be around other kids of the same color. Let's go back to segregation'."

Garrett concluded by quoting Ruby Bridges herself, who said "Racism is a grown-up disease, and we gotta stop using our kids to spread it."