IHRAF ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:
Buwaso Ibrahim Razack | Uganda | “IHRAF is my Pathfinder.”
“I shall stand for the right whether I stand alone or not.”
Buwaso Ibrahim Razack refuses to be silenced.
Buwaso Ibrahim Razack dreams of changing the world through his art. A poet, writer, actor, photographer, and activist, he was drawn to art and literature at the tender age of seven. “Coming from a third world country and growing up in a tough neighborhood, art is the only way I found to change my community, society, and country at large,” says Razack. “It speaks to all
humanity.”
The 26 year old Ugandan, who goes by the stage name Black Boy Poetry Guru, became an artist with
IHRAF in 2019, publishing a series of recorded spoken word pieces on women’s rights, corruption in
his home country, human rights, and social justice issues. When the authorities in his home country
of Uganda raised complaints about his work, he was forced to flee to Kenya, and later to Tanzania.
In January 2020, Razack’s life was threatened by Ugandan authorities over a piece he wrote that was
published on the IHRAF website called Dear God, which criticized the Ugandan government that had
been in power for 35 years. Fearing for his life, he was forced to go into hiding in Nairobi. The
Buwaso Ibrahim Razack’s Work
Spoken Word
Ugandan authorities even went as far as to threaten the lives of his mother and editor. Later that month, Razack’s editor Kanyike Jack Donald, founder of Nasser Media, was arrested as he tried to escape the country.
In March 2020, Razack was arrested by Kenyan authorities for overstaying his visa, and faced extradition to Uganda. When Kenyan authorities were informed that he was a human rights activist working with IHRAF, they dropped the charges. Eventually he was able to find safety in Tanzania and resumed his work. However, in fall 2022, he was abducted from his home in Bukoba, Tanzania, brought back to Uganda and imprisoned once again, this time for five months. Upon his release in March 2023, he told IHRAF, “[My imprisonment] has not stopped my resilience and push to advocate for my writings and staying strong.”
Since Razack’s first collaboration with IHRAF in 2019, we have continued working with him over the years. He was featured in our African Secretariat Interview Series (March 4, 2021), and several of his written pieces were published in our book Voices of Africa: A Call for Freedom (August 22, 2022).
As a result of his publications with IHRAF, Razack has received several offers to work with international human rights organizations in Canada, Norway, and Sweden. Says Razack, “The message in art and poetry is real and heard!”
Poetry
A Letter to a Black Woman
Dear Black Woman:
It’s me, ur son slim shady
Long hair, chocolate skin, white black eyes, white tooth, pinkish lips and brilliant brain
This is my token of thanks to your brave heart, soul and mind that you passed onto me
I won’t doubt the world calls you the Empress or Queen for you deserve all description of greatness
With Black you have proved that —
I vowed never to have a glance at ur red-teared eyes
For you never showed it to me when it hurt you to the core
From the insults pathetic names u were called
A hoe, Bitch, Prostitute, Strip
That u know it was what they portrayed of you
A clean smart brave heart mind and soul you have
Look I would not be mad at you if all they called out was you
I would understand u know why I have never seen any person brave to fight fears like you black woman
You survived slaver, rape, defilement, brain damages at a young age and grow with it at heart
What they did to scare you off turned into ur courage to fight back
Oprah once said he raped me and I defeated the fear he implicated in me to become a great woman
You are their nightmare, threat, Bufflehead topic that doesn’t have answers
They chained you and you walked along; traded you and still stayed silent; they delivered you to their market points in disguise of house maids farm workers and u played along they forgot to take out ur heart and soul for captivity
So funny how they made offsprings out of you to wash away ur race Dear Dark Chocolate skin: I adore you
The smiles you cry are tearing to all those that turned you down What ever you did: you held onto a foolishly hopeful smile
Your beauty and smile age like fine wine
The fact that you torment them and question their conscious is enough fight back
You used stones thrown at u to build unbreakable empire walls
You never followed rules u followed ur heart
They fed you on leftovers of the same food you cooked for them.
Razack’s editor is arrested
Motherland
My mother land
We are bleeding and choking on pride anger and stupidity
The same race has gone against itself
Brothers and sisters have gone against each other,
They have hated their own success
They have betrayed our ancestors,
They have betrayed struggles, the blood shade of our freedom fighters
They have built walls and boundaries against their own races,
They have fed them on hate, insults, tears
Turned our siblings into orphans, some to widows
Crime has become our daily meal
Blood is paint on street walls
Gun shots and crying voices have overturned the beautiful sound of birds
My motherland has been turned into a refugee champ
We are Baggers in our own land
Where did the hate come from
Who gave birth to this shame, segregation in the Motherland
Mother, whoever tries to say out the truth is shutdown
Jailed, tortured, bribed, some even threatened with death
Lies to our children are the daily bread
We are choking on wrong leadership over righteousness
We have turned our lives to worshiping a political leader for surviving.
Razack’s Story
Buwaso Ibrahim Razack’s Journey
Threats against Razack
Below: Text exchange between Buwaso Ibrahim Razack and Ugandan authorities, dated January 30, 2022, after Razack had escaped to Nairobi.
