Nothing was triumphant in Brittney Griner’s return to the United States.
It was, to be sure, a relief and a joy, to her family and friends. But it came at a cost.
In order to persuade Russia to free Griner following a drug conviction, U.S. negotiators agreed to cut short by six years the prison term of the notorious Russian arms deal, Viktor Bout, whom the media regularly aggrandizes as the Merchant of Death.
Some, especially conservatives, are infuriated that Bout was released at all.
Others are aggrieved that Russia refused to release Paul Whelan, a former Marine working as the head of global security for BorgWarner, which has no offices in Russia but vouched for Whelan’s work visa, the Detroit Free Press reported. Whelan, arrested in 2018, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a labor camp.
The implication in both complaints is that the U.S. made a bad deal — that Griner’s freedom was less important than Whelan’s or Bout’s freedom.
It’s more than that, though.
Griner is a 6-foot-nine black woman who identifies as queer. She wears long dreadlocks and a multitude of tattoos. She moves with an athletic swagger and she was arrested on drug charges.
In the mainstream view, those details are strikes against her.
Griner is an exceptional athlete. She’s twice won Olympic gold medals; a college national championship and a WNBA title. She was a college All America and a six-time WNBA all-star. She was in Russia to play in a professional league on a contract that more than doubles her “supermax” WNBA salary.
She was detained while going through Russian customs in early March. Authorities said they found two cannabis vape cartridges and less than a gram “hashish” oil. Griner was charged with smuggling drugs and sentenced in August to nine years in prison.
Griner’s detainment came shortly after Russia’s invaded Ukraine and amid widespread condemnation from European and American leaders. At one point President Biden ad-libbed a line in his speech to say of Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” The White House later denied the president was calling for regime change.
It’s not inconceivable that Putin saw Griner as a bargaining chit.
Beyond the geo-political intrigue, Griner’s “crime” in Russia is something that is legal in many places in the U.S. Griner says she uses prescription cannabinoids for pain management.
For many political opportunists, Griner represents a perfect storm of race, drugs, gender, and sexuality tinged with anti-Americanism.
It makes it easy — almost sensible — for them to complain that sparing Griner nine years in prison on trumped up charges was too high a price to pay. If she had been white, or male, or straight, or patriotic — like the accused spy Paul Whelan, perhaps —then it might have been worth the deal.
Which is why Griner’s return to the US has seemed — publicly at least— as less than a triumph.
It’s too bad the questions about her release have over-taken support (or even joy) for her return.
At a White House news conference, Cherelle Griner recognized the bittersweet event.
“Today, my family is whole. But as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not whole,” she said.
“BG is not here to say this, but I will gladly speak on her behalf and say that BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today. As we celebrate BG being home, we do understand that there are still people out here who are enduring what I endured the last nine months of missing tremendously their loved ones.”
Griner has been through an ordeal. She was a political prisoner, not a criminal. She cut her braids while in prison, according to reports, because the prison was so cold they would freeze before they could dry after she washed them.
The first thing she did in a gym at the military base in Texas after her return was to dunk a basketball.