Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has called on universities to "include people of colour" as he said racism is "bone-deep" in Britain and the US.
The US Baptist minister and politician, who worked with Martin Luther King Jr, spoke out about racism on a Black Lives Matter (BLM) solidarity panel hosted by the National Education Union (NEU).
His comments come after three weeks of global anti-racism demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African American, in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Jackson said leading UK universities have an “obligation to include people of colour”.
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He said: “Why should there be a monopoly on intelligence? That’s a supremacist proposition. When we learn together we grow together.
“Life is not a straight line, white folks don’t have a monopoly on information, we must figure out a way to include people of every level who bring different attributes to the education table.”
The joint general secretaries of the NEU recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the injustices and racial disparities highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic.
It called for immediate advice to employers in the education sector about racial disparities, the school curriculum to embrace black history and for new entrants to the teaching profession to be more diverse.
Mr Jackson also told the panel: “Racism is bone-deep in Britain and America, race supremacy is the foundation, the lead race is supreme, blacks inferior.
“The whole body of academic work and practical work are written around blacks being inferior whether they’re from India, the Caribbean or Africa, they’re inferior.”
Jackson added that the history of countries in the Caribbean and Africa should be taught in British schools.
Labour MP Diane Abbott, who also spoke on the panel, said the UK education system has “sought to stigmatise” children from minority ethnic backgrounds.
The former shadow home secretary said: “I believe strongly that we need a teaching workforce, particularly in our big cities, that looks like the children that its trying to teach.
“I believe it is very important that we continue to recruit, encourage and promote teachers of colour, not because only teachers of colour can teach children of colour, but because you can’t be what you can’t see.
“And children need to see teachers of colour in the staff room to help them to believe the world of education is for them and also if you have more teachers of colour, it means an enriched experience for all children.”