31-year-old WNBA athlete Brittney Griner has been held in Russia for approximately a month.
US Representative Colin Alfred said in a statement to CNN, said US government officials have “no official access to her” and that is was “unusual and extremely concerning”. The same statement from CNN stated, “Russian authorities arrested Griner last month, saying she had cannabis oil in her luggage and accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance — an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison… the US Embassy has requested consular access to her but has been denied for three weeks.”
The 31-year-old center for the Phoenix Mercury and Houston native recently won her second gold medal during the 2020 Olympics. Michael Crowley and Jonathan Abrams, in their 2022 article for The New York Times, “Brittney Griner, Star W.N.B.A. Center, Is Detained in Russia”, writes, “The Russian Federal Customs Service said its officials had detained the player after finding vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow, and it released a video of a traveler going through airport security who appeared to be Griner.”
The news surrounding Griner’s detainment comes right at the epicenter of an intense war between Russia and Ukraine. In the era of social media and hashtags, there has been no viral impact or efforts made to assist Griner’s return to the United States safely. 2022 has had a record number of cases of missing people but none have been more recognizable and headlines grabbing than that of a trail blazing Black queer female athlete.
Former ESPN correspondent and independent sports journalist Jamele Hill, in her 2022 article for The Atlantic, “Brittney Griner’s Plight Says More About America Than Russia”, writes, “Griner’s plight is especially acute because she’s a Black queer woman being held by authorities in a country that is hostile toward LGBTQ people…. Griner’s decision to play basketball in a country that suppresses personal freedoms is a matter of simple economics.” Hill goes on to write that Griner had been in Russia playing for their basketball team while the WNBA is off season, a common strategy many WNBA players adopt to secure extra income.
Russia’s homophobic agenda aside and Griner’s negligence aside, the lack of action, empathy, and urgency especially at the reckoning of an East European struggle on the heels of an ongoing pandemic begs the question concerning the expendability and endagerment of Black women in the eyes of the America but also the world.
