“Our charge is to the global sport community to stand with us,” said Terri Jackson, Executive President of the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association (WNBPA). “And our charge is to the media, as Cherelle said, is to stay focused on this story, to stay focused on her legacy, and to help us bring BG home.”
Jackson’s remarks came ahead of tipoff to the 2022 WNBA All-Star Weekend in which Brittney Griner–an assumed eight-time All Star–participated in absentia. Griner remains imprisoned in Russia on drug charges, for which she pleaded guilty on July 7. The U.S. government in May classified Griner as “wrongfully detained,” and has since embarked on efforts to negotiate her release.
Cultural powerhouses have thrown their support behind the Biden Administration's commitment to securing Griner’s release–Rev. Al Sharpton, of the National Action Network, among them. On Friday, he held a joint press conference with Cherelle Griner. BG’s wife, and representatives from the WNBPA to address Griner’s guilty plea in Russia.
The WNBPA praised Rev. Sharpton for holding the press conference through which the union’s leadership and its players could amplify their concerns for BG’s mental health, safety, and physical well-being. Rev. Sharpton, in turn, homed in on the nation’s collective duty and moral imperative to take action toward securing the release of not just Griner, but all detainees.
“Across the faith, civil rights, as well as human rights communities around the world … we stand rock solid behind Brittney Griner at this stage in what she is going through,” Rev. Sharpton said.
“Thank you Reverend Sharpton for standing with us, for being the advocate and champion for BG … and for spotlighting our moral obligation over privilege,” Jackson said. “Thank you Reverend Sharpton for setting the example of what it means to extend grace and seek mercy … BG has taken accountability and now it is time, past time, for this to come to a conclusion.”
Cherelle had a conversation with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on July 6, prior to the rally at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, where BG and the Mercury won the 2014 WNBA title. She used the press conference to thank them.
“I’m grateful and I’m thankful that the [Biden] Administration, that was the first one that BG ever voted for, took the time to see her as a person, to see her in the midst of what she’s going through and to speak to me directly and let me know that they are exhausting all efforts to bring her home,” Cherelle said. “I want to make it very clear that our next move as supporting for BG is to make sure that the Administration understands that they have our full support in doing any and everything necessary to be able to bring BG home as well as every wrongfully detained American.”
Nneka Ogwumike, President of the WNBA players’ association, spoke of Griner not just as the “American Hero” who has brought gold medal glory to the U.S. in two Olympic Games, but as a human immersed in the rich human experiences we all enjoy. “She looks like us, she is us,” Ogwumike said. “Our 144 have always stood together as sisters in an allyship. … But what America needs to understand is that she is you too. She is the fun aunt, she is the wife who encourages her spouse to thrive. She is a daughter who celebrates her dad’s service on the fourth. She’s the kid who was bullied and a role model who stands up for those kids now. She is kind and she is all of ours.”
Sue Bird, meanwhile, a four-time WNBA champion and five-time Olympic gold medalist in her final WNBA season, addressed the necessity for athletes from the U.S. to seize opportunities overseas, and to be afforded the opportunity to do so on ground unimpeded by strife. “Sanctity of sport is important, “Bird said. “As a female and as an athlete community made up of friends from countries around the world, we all feel rattled by this and just want her home. … Getting her home, and I can’t emphasize this enough, will be a win for every American. Because even though we are athletes, BG is an athlete, she is also an American.”
When the festivities of All-Star weekend tipped off on Saturday, players donned BG’s surname and jersey #42 on their uniforms. The league worked with uniform sponsor NIKE, at the behest of 2022 All-Star captain Breanna Stewart and other players, to make this possible. In a rewind to the 2020 WNBA season amid pandemic and protest, the players used their media availability to not just address the fun of the events celebrating their status as the creme de la creme of the work, but the dire human rights issue surrounding their fellow player.
On Thursday, Griner returned to a Khimki courtroom, outside of Moscow, for the first time since pleading guilty to drug charges on July 7. At today’s hearing, members of her UMMC Ekaterinburg team for which she plays during the WNBA offseason testified in her defense.
Maria Blagovolina, a lawyer for Griner, stated after the closed hearing that Maxim Ryabkov testified to Griner’s character, citing her “outstanding abilities as a player and personal contribution to strengthening team spirit.”
[Russian basketball boss defends Brittney Griner in drugs trial]
Yevgenia Belyakova, a small forward for Ekaterinburg and the team’s captain, and the team’s physician also testified on Griner’s behalf in what Blagovolina told reporters was a successful, but emotional hearing for the team’s title-winning center. “It was an extremely emotional day for Brittney, who was touched by the appearance of the club director, head physician and her teammate, who gave an extremely positive description of our client both personally and professionally,” Blagovolina said.
UPDATE (7/15/2022): Griner returned to court on Friday, July 15, at which time her legal team submitted documents showing that Griner had been prescribed medical cannabis to treat a chronic injury. "The defense today provided written evidence, including character materials, medical documents and tax returns," said Maria Blagovolina, Griner's lawyer, in an interview with Reuters.
Blagovolina and her team are arguing that Griner brought the vape cartridges into Russia "inadvertently."
[Griner's lawyers tell Russian court she was prescribed medical cannabis]
[Phoenix Mercury fans take a stand at the #WeAreBG rally at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 30, 2022. | Photo Credit: Phoenix Mercury]