Heartbroken fans of late Wilmington TikTok star to celebrate his 20th birthday
The legacy of TikTok dancing sensation Matima “Swavy” Miller continues to grow – even after the 19-year-old from Wilmington died five months ago.
With 3.7 million fans on TikTok (@babyface.s) and 508,000 on Instagram (oneway.swavy), the newest chapter from Swavy’s life was revealed Monday on the Instagram page of Swavy’s brother, Rahkim Clark (@1heavy_stepper), who manages the late teen’s Instagram account.
Clark, who could not be reached for this story, announced his family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money toward a scholarship fund in MIller's memory, "Swavy’s Shining Youth Scholarship Foundation."
The announcement comes a few days before Swavy’s 20th birthday on Sunday.
“Our hope is that this scholarship will continue Matima’s legacy and create many opportunities for dreamers just like him to increase their academic achievement and assist in their overall success,” according to the Instagram post.
WENDY WILLIAMS TALKS ABOUT SWAVY: Fans want her canceled
Swavy’s family hopes to offer a scholarship to Newark High School students. The application will be available after students return from winter break, they say.
According to the Instagram post, the application will include an essay that “focuses on gun violence in our community, requiring students to answer a prompt regarding gun violence and gun control.”
Swavy was shot to death in Wilmington’s Southbridge neighborhood on July 5.
In early November, Israel Lecompte, 18, was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Miller and 22-year-old Quinton Dorsey. Lecompte was charged with more than 30 other felonies at the time.
THE CHARGES: Charged with over 30 felonies
There’s a link in the Instagram post to the fundraiser on GoFundMe.com. As of Wednesday afternoon, just $165 had been raised out of a goal of $15,000.
For more information about the effort, people can email Swavy’s brother at [email protected].
‘Proud of you Swavy’
There are more than 150 comments from fans reacting to the Instagram post, filled with an outpouring of teary-eyed and heart emojis.
“I'm so proud of you swavy,” one fan wrote, followed by seven hearts. “keep doing you.”
“THIS IS YOUR WORLD SWAVY!” an excited fan wrote.
“long live myluvvvv [insert heart emoji] .. you’d be so proud boo,” another supporter commented.
“sending good luck to those who enter,” another fan wrote.
‘A coward took a part of my soul away’
On Nov. 18, a few days after Lecompte was charged in Swavy's death, Clark went on his Instagram account to shed light on how losing his little brother has taken a toll on him.
“A coward took a part of my soul away from me….. no reasoning can justify why Tima’s life was cut short. You gained nothing from it,” Clark wrote. “Nothing but malice, envy and darkness could drive someone to take an innocent person’s life like that. My brother wasn’t in no gang he was just following his dreams and living his life!”
WILMINGTON LOSES TIK TOK LEGEND: What we know about the death of Swavy
Swavy fans have been showing Clark lots of love on his Instagram page, which has 108,000 followers. A number of Swavy’s fans were familiar with Clark before his brother died because he’s featured in a lot of TikToks with him.
Swavy injected silliness into his TikToks, once pretended his big brother was his dad. But fans were skeptical of his charming, young-looking older brother.
On April 9, Swavy posted a TikTok of him dancing in front of Clark, and the video was captioned: “I bet you WONT do this dance in front of your dad.”
“Your dad is handsome,” a smitten fan wrote. “just thought I should tell u lol.”
“Wait that’s yo dad I thought he was yo brother,” a confused TikTok fan said.
“Your dad younger than you,” a fan observed.
“Dad ?! I thought that was ur friend,” another baffled fan wrote.
On Aug. 4, Clark announced on his Instagram page that he earned his bachelor’s from the University of Delaware, sharing a picture of his degree.
He acknowledged Swavy in the post, and some of the hardships he was experiencing.
“These past couple months have been filled with so many unexpected circumstances, and trials. Two of my closest loved ones were taken from me due to gun violence, I was put out of my home, and down on my last, but by god’s grace I made a way and Im still standing tall [inset 100 emoji] I just made one of the biggest achievements of my life??FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE GRAD,” Clark wrote.
“Didn’t get a chance to celebrate how I really wanted,” he added, “but Im proud of myself [insert 100 emoji] neither of my parents graduated high school, we ain’t come from much but we made it work.’
Christmas without Swavy
The day after Christmas would have been Swavy’s 20th birthday. Many of his TikTok fans made it clear they’re still grieving in comments to the latest TikTok video uploaded to Swavy’s account on Dec. 8.
That TikTok features a funny video of Swavy doing the Jo Slide in the bathroom.
OFFBEAT AND FUN: New Year's Eve bashes in Delaware and Ocean City to ring in 2022
The comments feature a mix of somber messages, laughing reactions, and a little bit of confusion since some of his fans think his birthday is on Christmas.
And that confusion makes sense.
It appears an accident occurred when the description for the Dec. 8 video was written, which states: “17 days until Swavy’s born day,” indicating Swavy’s birthday would fall on Christmas.
Swavy made a TikTok last year on Dec. 26 declaring the day after Christmas was when he was born.
Regardless, his fans agree he was a gift to all.
“Swavy just know I'm still thinking about you, I just wish you could've been here longer. Heaven gained an angel with you. Gun violence needs to stop,” a TikTok fan pleaded.
“Rip my boi they took a legend,” another grieving fan wrote.
Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware TikTok star Swavy remembered by fans ahead of his birthday
