I really looked forward to this day. It was going to be a day consisting of watching some March Madness, the L&O shows on Peacock, and some hockey and SmackDown. Sadly, that ended up hampered by a number of bullies on Tiktok. I did mention before that a Tiktoker simply known as "dhbowzeryourbinarydad" (real name Derrick Bower) was bullying @GMileyCollier78 and falsely accusing her of being transphobic when she clearly wasn't. Their attention turned to me later on, as I was told that "when a person from a marginalized community corrects you to do better, you should learn from that." They clearly saw that I'm a Black person, yet I got White-splained about marginalized communities, even though I'm a member of a marginalized community. I'm dead serious, when I saw those words, you know what phrase I really saw? One we've heard too many times:  "Know your place, boy." That's basically what Derrick said to me in so many words.

It became worse, as another Tiktoker, "billynomates1988," had the nerve to bully Miley and myself, as Billy constantly harassed Miley, while he also White-splained to me what an LGBT ally is, even though I've known and been one for over 20 years. Someone known as "angel" made about three accounts and used all of them to harass Miley and myself with many threatening replies to us. I found myself mentally exhausted over this, but I did recover. Sports related distractions (and a Saved by the Bell binge) helped.

Thankfully, there is some light to the darkness, in the form of this:

"Flossy Face," "Sephe," and "Squirrel Tata's" have all come through with revelations that Derrick is a known racist. Flossy Face revealed that Derrick is a misogynist and has participated in a group chat that engaged in anti-Blackness, and that they also helped harass a survivor of domestic violence. Squirrel Tata's is a victim of Derrick's racism and misogyny, and Sephe referred to them as "an embarrassment to the non-binary community." In other words, Derrick's a few steps away from being Ezra Miller. 

I'm grateful to those three for exposing Derrick Bower's hateful conduct. It made this day easier to stomach, and I enjoyed the rest of it as my nerves and anxieties were put to bed. Bullies like Derrick Bower, angel, and Billy are misusing social media by using it to spread fear, intimidation, and yes, hate. There's no place for such tactics in social media. Social media is a safe space, plain and simple