When I arrived as a graduate student in New York in 1983, the city and the country were in the middle of a vibrant anti-apartheid campaign. I never dreamt that 40 years later I would feel this gnawing sense of familiarity with my past.

Listen to this article 5 min Listen to this article 5 min I observe the barrage of media images. Two strike me as strangely familiar. One is of ICE agents rounding up those suspected of being in the US illegally, and the other of members of the California National Guard and US Marines on the streets of Los Angeles - apparently to quell the protests there.

These images evoke a strong sense of déjà vu for me, a naturalised US citizen and someone who grew up classified as "coloured" in apartheid South Africa.

My upbringing in a racist authoritarian state propelled me into anti-apartheid activism and continues to shape my work on racial, gender and social justice advocacy elsewhere. When I arrived as a graduate student in New York in 1983, the city and the country were in the middle of a vibrant anti-apartheid campaign.

I never dreamt that 40 years later I would feel this gnawing sense of familiarity with my past.

Let me be clear: The US today is not apartheid South Africa. Instituted in 1948, after an election victory by the white minority National Party, apartheid was no doubt one of the 20th century's most brutal forms...