Yuma Sun

The Right’s reaction to Brittney Griner’s release is telling

- BY ELWOOD WATSON copyright 2022 elwood Watson, distribute­d by cagle cartoons newspaper syndicate. elwood Watson is a professor of history, black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at east Tennessee State university. He is also an author and public

It sure didn’t take long for rightwing media figures to criticize the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was released on Dec. 8 by the Russian government as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor

Bout, nicknamed “the merchant of death.” Since the deal was made by the Biden administra­tion, the Right predictabl­y launched a perverse and sinister attack, politicall­y weaponizin­g her release by employing racist and homophobic language.

Bout had been serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. for more than a decade. Griner, who landed on

U.S. soil at the end of last week, had been detained in Russia for several months – where she’d gone for a profession­al basketball job during the U.S. offseason – for accusation­s of possessing hashish oil. She was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. She was transferre­d to a Russian penal colony in early November after her appeal against the conviction was rejected.

Right-wing conservati­ves have brutally attacked Griner throughout her time in Russian custody, focusing on her identity as a Black, queer woman and targeting her previous protests against racial injustice as unpatrioti­c. Statements such as “America-hating lesbian pothead” and “Black lesbian millionair­e athlete who broke the law in a foreign country” have been levied toward Griner.

Large segments of the Right have continued to attack her, as well as denounce President Biden (without evidence) for supposedly prioritizi­ng her release over Paul Whelan – an ex-marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 because of spying allegation­s.

Newsmax host Benny Johnson attacked Griner as a “Black woman, lesbian woman, drug addict, America-hating

– woke.”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson baselessly suggested the Biden administra­tion didn’t secure Whelan’s release because he “is a Trump voter and he made the mistake of saying so on social media.” He went on to say Griner “hates the country so much she doesn’t want to hear its anthem. That’s the kind of position that gets you rewarded by Joe Biden.”

Pro-trump talk radio host Michael Savage purported the same ideas, tweeting, “The choice of Griner over Whelan may reflect the preference­s of Biden’s political base. The WNBA star and celebrity is also a black lesbian, who protested the U.S. national anthem. Whelan is a middle-aged white man and a U.S. Marine.”

Right-wing nonsense notwithsta­nding, the family of Paul Whalen issued a most profession­ally honest statement to the media and the larger public:

“There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home. The Biden Administra­tion made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”

David Whelan expressed his happiness for Griner, but also acknowledg­ed he has major concerns about his brother.

“I can’t imagine he retains any hope that a government will negotiate his freedom at this point,” Whelan said in a statement. “It’s clear that the US government has no concession­s that the Russian government will take for Paul Whelan. And so, Paul will remain a prisoner until that changes.”

The fact is Griner has been unapologet­ic in promoting her platform to speak on issues that impact people of color. In 2020, she was staunchly critical of about the initial lack of investigat­ion being conducted in the death of Breonna Taylor and was very vocal about the murder of George Floyd.

“We should not play the national anthem during our season,” she told the Arizona Republic at the time. “I think we should take that much of a stand. I don’t mean that in any disrespect to our country.”

Griner explained that her father had fought in Vietnam and served as a law-enforcemen­t officer for 30 years. “I wanted to be a cop before basketball,” she said. “I do have pride for my country.”

Her comments dripped with pride, candor, patriotism, and honesty. It is evident she is a person who loves her nation, but like many others who criticize it, she wants it to live up to the values of fairness and equality that it supposedly professes for all of its citizens

Sad to say, the same cannot be said of her racist and homophobic rightwing critics.

 ?? AP PHOTO/RICK SCUTERI ?? PHOENIX MERCURY CENTER BRITTNEY GRINER during the first half of Game 2 of basketball’s WNBA Finals against the Chicago Sky on Oct. 13, 2021, in Phoenix.
AP PHOTO/RICK SCUTERI PHOENIX MERCURY CENTER BRITTNEY GRINER during the first half of Game 2 of basketball’s WNBA Finals against the Chicago Sky on Oct. 13, 2021, in Phoenix.

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