April 8, 2022
December 16, 2022
This morning, BG made the following statement regarding her safe return to the US.
Welcome home, BG.
“It feels so good to be home! The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.
I am grateful to each person who advocated for me, especially my wife, Cherelle Griner, my family, Lindsay Kagawa Colas and Casey Wasserman and my whole team at Wasserman, Vince Kozar and the Phoenix Mercury, the players of the WNBA, and my entire WNBA family, Terri Jackson and the WNBPA staff, my Russian legal team Maria Blagovolina and Alex Boykov, the leaders, activists, and grassroots organizations, Gov. Richardson and Mickey Bergman of the Richardson Center, the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, Roger Carstens and the SPEHA team, and of course, a special thank you to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Blinken and the entire Biden-Harris Administration.
President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.
As I transition home to enjoy the holidays with my family, I want to acknowledge and thank the entire PISA staff and medical team at the San Antonio Fort Sam Houston Base. I appreciate the time and care to make sure I was okay and equipped with the tools for this new journey.
I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.
Love always,
BG #42”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. Relations between Russia and the United States have deteriorated dramatically since then, with the US aligned with Ukraine and our allies in NATO/Europe. Additionally, this action by Russia is overtly a war of aggression, not provocated in any way by Ukraine. It is in this context that something really unconscionable is happening to one of America’s best female athletes and the silence is – oddly — deafening.
Imagine, for a moment, that on February 17th, any one of the top men’s NBA stars had been detained in Russia. We have no doubt that Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durantt, or LeBron James’ names would have been somewhere in the headline of every major newspaper in the United States almost every day since they had been arrested. Imagine, additionally, that the charges being brought against any one of these starts were that they had drugs in their luggage which for any of them would have been really not believable.
One of the WNBA’s top star, Brittany Griner, was arrested in Russia and charged by their law enforcement with smuggling drugs – specifically vape cartridges containing hashish oil – into Russia.
There are a lot of questions, and few clear answers.
These are charges brought by Russia and it is unclear what proof has been provided. It should immediately be noted that Griner plays on a women’s basketball team in Russia during the WNBA off-season and has done this for a number of years. One could easily wonder if she had done this for years, wouldn’t she have been very familiar with Russia’s very strict drug laws? And for her to have taken such a chance – especially during February when the crisis between Russia and Ukraine had been building dramatically seems very odd indeed. Conviction in a Russian court on these charges could put Griner in prison there for up to 10 years. So for starters, the charges are very suspect.
It should be noted that none of this has fazed far too many racist and sexist American sports fans in ridiculing her, assuming her guilt for smuggling drugs with all the usual stereotypical slurs expected when whites are judging blacks.
Why was Griner in Russia in the first place? To women’s rights advocates here, the reason is nothing less than infuriating. The US public drastically undervalues professional women’s basketball. Per the WNBA’s current collective bargaining agreement, the average cash compensation for women players is around $130,000. Top players can earn in excess of $500,000. But by comparison, the amount even rookie men’s NBA players in the US can make is easily in the multi-million dollar range. Griner, and many other women’s basketball stars, can earn $1 million playing on a Russian team during the off-season for the WNBA. That disparity between what men and women earn in professional sports speaks to an attitude here that sports are for men. Basketball is no exception.
In a recent article in The Atlantic, Jemele Hill wrote, “Russia wouldn’t be a tantalizing option for America’s best women’s basketball players if they could earn more at home and be treated with the same professional respect as NBA players. It is damning that teams in oppressive countries such as Russia and China place a higher value on players such as Griner than the teams in her own country do.”
Brittany Griner is a lesbian, and a very vocal advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights. Here in the U.S., she plays for the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team. She’s known for being very supportive of a youth center in Phoenix and has been the grand marshal of Phoenix’s Pride Parade. This also puts her on yet another list with the Russian government, which discriminates against LGBTQIA+ people in numerous ways, restricting public advocacy, and legislatively by passing what has been tagged as “gay propaganda” laws targeting minors.
Several people who have wanted to advocate more openly for Griner’s release have said privately that they have been discouraged from doing so, to attempt to keep her from becoming a political pawn in the rapidly escalating international tensions surrounding the Russian-Ukraine war. However, at the same time, we all know where a lack of focus on this case can also lead us.
U.S. officials have recently visited Griner in her Russian prison and reported that she is in good spirits and in a facility where she receives decent treatment. But her hearing or trial on these charges has been pushed to May 19, and the WNBA season here starts on May 6. This means Griner is out for the season, at best.
It’s important for women’s rights advocates and fans of women’s sports to follow this case closely and to speak out when they can for our government to continue to pressure the Russians for her release, sooner rather than later. It doesn’t seem very likely, however, that this can happen without a great deal of diplomacy and work internationally to bring her home.
Please watch for any opportunities to register your support e Russians to release Brittany Griner.
Progress has been made in this country with Biden administration officials pushing much more openly and vigorously for her release in recent weeks. The Russian government keeps postponing her “trial” date which must be very discouraging for all involved, since the charges and any evidence remain unknown.
It was recently reported that Griner was able to text and email with family and her WNBA family and friends here. More and more professional athletes, including male athletes, are speaking out for her release. Locally, the Washington Mystics have been quite outspoken, advocating for support for getting her home.
Public pressure must continue – please speak out on behalf of bringing Brittany home.
And, by the way, support women’s sports!
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