Veteran South African Talk Show Host Felicia Mabuza-Suttle Says America Under Trump is Like Apartheid
She recounts what her childhood under Apartheid South Africa was like.
Last week, MSNBC host Joy Reidslammed the Trump administration and likened it to Apartheid South Africa under the racist National Party. Reid accused President Donald Trump and the Republican Party as a whole for "being divorced from reality" and following in the footsteps of a fascist government. IOL reports that veteran South African talk show host and entrepreneur, Felicia Mabuza-Suttle, posted the video of Reid speaking on social media and recounted how her own experiences in America reminded her of her childhood during Apartheid South Africa.
Mabuza-Suttle, who lives in Atlanta, has spoken about how she never leaves her house without carrying her driver's licence as a form of identification in case she is stopped by the police. The experience reminds of her how Black South Africans were bound by law to carry an identity book known as a dompas during Apartheid. Central to grand Apartheid laws was the restriction of Black South African's movements and dictating where they could and could not live under what was referred to as the Group Areas Act.
"This brought back memories of growing up as a little girl in South Africa, traumatized by police arresting Black men, including my father and uncle, and walking them for hours handcuffed in pairs, as they rounded up neighborhoods asking men for Pass Books," Mabuza-Suttle said. She added that, "To this day, those memories remain indelible in my mind. I remember seeing Black men thrown into the back of a police van. I can still hear that deafening knock on the door, in the middle of the night, from the Afrikaner police shouting, 'Open the door, police, Pass!"
Interestingly, Mabuza-Suttle also alleged that a number of White South Africans who had emigrated to the States and were living in Atlanta, had become staunch supporters of President Trump and his ideologies. This is, however, unsurprising as right-wing political parties and movements are currently on the rise in South Africa. Following the national elections earlier this year in May, the Freedom Front Plus increased their share in the national vote from 0.9 percent back in 2014 to 2.38 percent this year.