Staying quiet about Brittney Griner hasn't worked

[Jilly_in_VA]

For the past two months, people around Brittney Griner and the WNBA have been low-key. The idea was that any loud calls to have the basketball star released from her Russian prison as Vladimir Putin launched an assault against Ukraine would only upset the authoritarian, and so the wise course was to work quietly and behind the scenes to release her.

It hasn’t worked.

Accused of having cannabis oil in her luggage at the airport on Feb. 17, Griner faces 10 years in prison in Russia. Her detention however, also serves as an undeniable flex of Putin’s power. The American and Olympian embodies many characteristics that he has tried to suppress in Russia, such as any discussion of untraditional gender expectations.

Griner, who came out in 2013 and has often spoken about how misunderstood she has felt over the years, stands at 6-foot-9 and has a raft of endorsements, including Nike. She is impossible to ignore even if she wanted to be invisible. She’s too famous, too tall, too uniquely Griner to be mistaken.

https://deadspin.com/staying-quiet-about-brittney-griner-hasn-t-worked-1848790481
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Brittney Griner is a political prisoner. Period.