Both the WNBA and the Biden administration have said little about star player Brittney Griner's case since she was arrested at a Russian airport on February 17 on allegations of carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
Yes. Brittney Griner is an incredible athlete, one of women’s basketball’s superstars, perhaps the greatest of all time. You mentioned many of her accolades. At the same time, the base salary in theis capped at about $230,000, and nearly half of the league, its players, go abroad in the off-season to make higher wages that they can’t make in the United States.
So, Brittney Griner was in Russia, like you said. She’s been playing for this team, that pays very well in Russia, for about seven years. She’s flown in and out dozens of times. And February 17th was different. She was arrested at customs allegedly for having hashish oil in her luggage. Notably also, this was one week before Russia invaded Ukraine. And I think it’s also really worth noting that Brittney Griner is, as you said, a Black lesbian. She’s 6-foot-9. She has tattoos all over her arms. She is outspoken about being proud about her sexuality. She breaks gender norms. And we know that this is an intersection of identities that Putin and the Kremlin have a history of really targeting in rhetoric and in action.
And I am praying that they have a strategy, that they are negotiating to urgently get Brittney Griner home. But it’s impossible to know. And the truth is that when you think about this black box of silence, and you ask, “Who does this silence really benefit?” I think that there’s the chance that this silence most benefits the government to find a favorable outcome for them, not necessarily for the life of Brittney Griner.
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