He has a face with sweatshirts. His name is in hashtags. His “BG” and his number are on the fans’ jerseys and on the WNBA tracks.
While Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner is waiting in Russia, detained since February 17 on drug charges, there are symbols of support for her. They come from people who don’t know her at all and from people who know and love her, from teammates, supporters and former coaches.
Dawn Staley, who coached Griner and his American teammates to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, said he thinks about her every day.
“I know Brittney, I’ve been around her, I know her heart. I know what’s going on,” Staley said. “And whether she is being detained or not unjustly detained, I would defend her freedom because no one should be in a foreign country locked up abroad.”
Staley has been posting on Twitter about Griner every day since early May. “Can you please release our friend,” he wrote Tuesday, labeling the official White House account. He added: “All your loved ones would sleep a little easier.”
It has been more than three months since Griner was arrested, accused of having hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. But only in recent weeks has there been a coordinated public campaign by WNBA players and Griner’s wife, family, friends and agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas to push for her release. This is where the hooded sweatshirts come in — they carry a lot of different players — and the initials — which are on the WNBA courts. The #WeAreBG tag on warm-up shirts and on social media is also part of the campaign.
On Saturday, the WNBA Players Union posted messages on social media commemorating the 100th day of Griner’s arrest.
“The reclassification of Griner as being unjustly detained by the U.S. government indicated our shift toward the more public activist elements of our strategy,” said Kagawa Colas, adding that he could not go deeper out of respect for the sensitivity of the situation. .
Followers have quickly joined the new approach.
“We’re more public,” said Terri Jackson, executive director of the WNBA Players Union. One of the reasons, he said, was the determination of the State Department and another was Griner’s wife’s guide, Cherelle Griner.
“She’s a leader in that,” Jackson said. “She indicated through her team that she needed us and that’s all we needed to hear.”
Cherelle Griner appeared on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday and called on President Biden to intervene.
“I just keep hearing that he has the power,” Cherelle Griner said. “He’s a political pawn. If they catch him because they want you to do something, I want you to do it.”
The State Department announcement this month said Biden’s special envoy for hostage matters would lead an interagency team to secure Griner’s release. But since then, Griner’s detention has been extended until June 18, and the Biden administration has said little about his maneuvers. Cherelle Griner said during the television interview that her only communication with his wife had been through occasional letters. He said he had been told his wife’s release was a priority, but he was skeptical.
Representative Colin Allred, a Democrat from Texas, has been speaking publicly about the arrest of Brittney Griner and has worked with her representatives. He said Griner, who is from Houston, had access to his lawyer in Russia, but was unable to speak to his family. This violated international standards, he said.
“The Russians need to be aware that we know what they are doing, we know why they are doing it and there will be consequences if something happens to them,” Allred said.
Griner’s family and friends have tried to pressure Russia and Biden to demand more support and news coverage in the United States.
“Not enough talk has been held about Brittney and her release, or anything,” said Staley, a women’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina. “It simply came to our notice then. I understand.”
He later added: “There are so many people who really know Brittney who are doing nothing, who don’t sympathize with the situation. I just want people to feel like their loved one. And when you feel like it’s yours to be loved, you would do anything to help yourself. Everyone has to live their life, I understand, but go. Empathize. “
Several WNBA players, and a few NBA players, have begun publicly defending Griner’s release; in the first two and a half months after Griner’s arrest, most had only said they loved her and missed her.
Seattle Storm striker Breanna Stewart, who was named the league’s most valuable player in 2018, posts daily on Twitter about Griner. DeWanna Bonner, who plays for the Connecticut Sun and was Griner’s teammate in Phoenix from 2013 to 2019, spoke about Griner during a recent press conference.
“One more thing,” he said. “Free BG We are BG We love BG Free her.”
In mid-May, the WNBA Players’ Union became an official partner in a White House petition for Change.org, urging Biden to do “whatever it takes” to bring Griner home. safely. The petition was launched in March by Tamryn Spruill, a freelance journalist who has written for various media outlets, including The New York Times, about WNBA representatives Griner in Wasserman promoting the petition to the media.
In an interview with ESPN on May 17, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was asked what role the league should play in Griner’s situation. The NBA has 42.1% of the WNBA
What you need to know about the arrest of Brittney Griner in Russia
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Why was he in Russia? Griner was in Russia playing for an international team during the WNBA low season. The break for overseas competition is common among league players for many reasons, but often the biggest motivation is money.
Does this have anything to do with Ukraine? Griner’s arrest comes during a heated confrontation between Russia and the United States over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it is not yet clear whether Russia could have targeted Griner as a lever against the United States.
How is the United States dealing with the situation? In March, U.S. officials were finally able to see Griner and say he was fine. Weeks later, the State Department later said it had determined she was “detained by mistake,” adding that an interagency team would work to release her.
Silver said the NBA had “a great deal of responsibility” with Griner, but that he had been silenced in his support by expert advice who thought amplifying his situation could hinder his release. “That said,” Silver said, “there’s a huge role for the public in protesting or letting their representatives know how bad and strong they feel about it.”
Last week, three House Democrats tabled a resolution calling for Griner’s immediate release.
“It sends a clear message that representatives of the American people support bringing Brittney home as soon as possible,” said Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton, who introduced the resolution with Allred and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.
Fans of social media and gaming have been vocal and urgent in their requests for months, and have expressed frustration with Griner’s camp for its initial strategy of silence. Some of Griner’s closest followers have had similar feelings, but did not always believe that they could speak publicly.
Jackson of the Players’ Union said the original directive not to talk about Griner was difficult for WNBA players, who are known for their advocacy for LGBTQ rights, gender equity and social justice, especially for women. women of color.
“Maybe it was very different for us to put our arms around the idea that we needed to be a little more patient, not so quick to be vocal, to really dedicate our time,” Jackson said.
In addition to following Cherelle Griner’s wishes, the players’ union sought advice from Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, Ph.D. a student in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, whose areas of study include African American experiences in the Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Russia.
“Now that she’s been detained for so long,” St. Julian-Varnon, “I think it’s appropriate to go into this second phase of, ‘Okay, we’ve spent months in Russia.’ You’ve released Trevor Reed. which is still very much desired at home ‘”.
Reed, a former Marine, was released as part of a prisoner exchange in April after being detained in Russia since 2019 on assault charges.
In an interview with CNN aired last Sunday, Reed said media coverage of his case had helped his release.
Staley said he recorded Reed talking about his arrest so he could look for clues as to what might help Griner.
“Trevor is saying you have to shout out loud. You have to have a meeting with the president,” Staley said. She added: “If you can stand in front of him, it’s hard for him to tell you no. It’s hard for him to look into the eyes of a grieving father or wife and say, ‘I can’t do anything.’
Since he won a national championship with South Carolina this year, Staley and his team are likely to be invited to the White House to meet with Biden soon.
“I will give it to Brittney’s wife, parents and family, I will pay them our visit to the White House,” he said.