There's Not a Huge Difference Between the Media Coverage of Brittney Griner's Incarceration and that of Black Women Killed by the State.
WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner is 32-years-old today and languishing in a Russian prison. Her narrative has ebbed and flowed out of the public consciousness. It's eerily similar to other Black women.
It is not commonplace in American sports for the story of a superstar athlete going through a life-altering legal situation to become a sidebar in the news cycle. But such has been the case for 6-foot-9 WNBA superstar, Brittney Griner, who is spending her 32nd birthday today (October 18) in a Russian jail.
Ongoing advocacy for Brittney’s return to the United States after being arrested for possession of cannabis oil at a Russian airport back in February has mostly been the task of Brittney’s wife, Cherelle Griner, WNBA players and Black women social justice advocates. For the past 243 days, the onus has primarily been on them to keep Brittney’s plight fresh in the public consciousness.
It could be argued that if Brittney were an over-the-hill ball player on the verge of retirement, the hot-and-cold attention her case has been given still wouldn’t be suitable, but it may be slightly understandable. But Brittney is a WNBA all-star in the prime of her career. I cannot imagine a scenario in which an NBA star the caliber of LeBron James, Steph Curry or Kevin Durant would be detained in a foreign country for over 200 days, and their story not at least be mentioned by mainstream media outlets every day regardless of any perception of guilt or innocence.
Brittney Griner, however, is a Black woman in a perilous legal ordeal.
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