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ATHENS, Ga.\u2014Holding signs with sayings such as \u201cUGA! STOP COVID FROM GROWING\u201d and \u201cDON\u2019T MAKE ME BARK AT YOU! WEAR A MASK,\u201d students and Athens\u2019 residents gathered in front of the Arch on Sept. 19 to protest the University of Georgia\u2019s COVID-19 response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working by the Arch Arianna Mbunwe is focused on her laptop, writing up items for her internship. A typical scene for a university student, except for the fact that Mbunwe is sitting in the middle of this COVID-19 rally that she helped to organize herself. Between speeches, interviews, and headshots, instead of taking a moment to herself, she is already back to work, recalled her co-coordinator Jessica Jaconetti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With nearly 50 people showing up in support, the rally demanding improvement on UGA\u2019s COVID-19 response was deemed a success by Mbunwe and Jaconetti. It was a moment of empowerment for the organizers who spent weeks planning the protest, but Mbunwe did not have much time to take in her accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near the end of the rally, Mbunwe received screenshots from an anonymous sender of racist, homophobic and sexist GroupMe messages<\/a> between members of UGA\u2019s Lambda Chi Alpha chapter. Many of these messages were specifically targeted at Mbunwe, one calling her \u201ca foul, miserable creature\u201d and another saying \u201cLord give me the strength to not call that woman a racial slur.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI sat for like an hour thinking about what I should do [with the screenshots], and then I thought you know what, they already made their decision, and then I posted it,\u201d said Mbunwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mbunwe is a third-year, pre-med and political science major at UGA who has quickly risen as a social activist on campus and is widely known for her Twitter identity, \u201cAri Exposes UGA.\u201d At the beginning of the fall 2020 semester, Mbunwe had about 300 followers; now she has amassed over 5,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Mbunwe\u2019s Twitter began as a personal account to share her own thoughts and grievances, this semester it quickly morphed into something else when she began to receive anonymous information about inadequate social distancing practices. She soon became a voice for those who could not speak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those that send Mbunwe information are typically other UGA students who follow people involved in Greek Life on social media. While these anonymous students may disagree with how their peers are acting, they do not feel comfortable sharing these posts themselves, so they forward them on for Mbunwe to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people that are sharing this information with me couldn\u2019t post it on their own personal Twitters because I know they would get in trouble, so I might as well stick out my own neck because people need to know. I don\u2019t care about getting in trouble,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing up as a Black, gay woman in a predominately white area in the South has made COVID-19 relief a special interest of Mbunwe, as COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting the Black community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>, Black or African-American, non-Hispanic persons have COVID-19 death rates that are 2.8 times those of white, non-Hispanic persons. In Georgia, 3,521 Black people have died due to COVID-19, according to the Georgia Department of Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her tweet showing a video of UGA Alpha Omicron Pi\u2019s bid day with unmasked girls packed on balconies, captioned \u201cnot a mask in sight just vibes\u201d is what really gained her account traction. The video gained 44.5K views and 1.3K likes. This was her first direct attack on UGA Greek Life\u2019s COVID-19 practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/marynrenfroe.com\/assignment3_site1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/cdc-data-1024x577.png\")