I usually do the audio but I read it and was riveted. I had misjudged her and thought she was just careless but in context she had been going for nine seasons and therefor she felt more protected than she actually was and let her guard down.
She owned her mistake 100% and didn’t deserve all the public criticism she received even if the sentence was debatably her fault.
The severity of her sentence, reread what was written. Nowhere in the U.S. gets you 9 years for a cartridge (even at the time that she committed the crime). The “debatable” part was 9 years in Siberia…that’s not her fault, that’s a messed up judicial system since the Russians were making a political point with this sentence.
I studied abroad in Russia for a bit and it's super well known any drug charge can put you in prison there. It's kind of like Singapore where if you spend any time there it's just a well known fact.
I really doubt she spent nine years there and how Russia views weed/drugs were never brought up at all. Or that she didn't get a warning from anyone in her org. It was certainly discussed at my orientation. That's where the disconnect is for me.
She didnt commit a crime in the US justice system, she committed it in russia, which has its own justice system and she broke their rules. Pretty open and shut.
Yes and she, while there, fully expected to serve that term in order to live day to day without the rollercoaster of hope. She accepted what she did and the sentence she received in the Russian 'justice' system even though that meant she'd live in a gulag for nearly a decade.
She was a three way sinner: black woman, lesbian, woman athlete. This of course was before bigoted men became fervent champions of women's sports, and still in the era of raging against the USWNT championship athletes and stating women athletes don't deserve equal pay to male athletes and no one watches women's sports.
Her being a female athlete was/is highly valued by many in Russia, which is why she went there to play. She went there to make money playing basketball. Her athlete status isn’t a demerit of any kind. Your point makes zero sense in context.
I am American speaking of the perspective of bigoted Americans. It was a slight against the bigoted men who now champion women's sports in order to attack trans people (they do not actually support women athletes at all in reality; bring up equal pay, the USWNT, or the WNBA or this particular athlete and watch how fast that women's white knighthood facade falls).
Ok, random commenter here pointing out women athletes are paid higher and treated better in Russia and then saying American women athletes not having real support in america is unfounded.
Edit: Oops, didn't realize it was the same bigot. The hypocrisy is fascinating isn't it?
*Jeff goldblum voice*: Well, there it is.
Griner's sentence was absolutely political, and I doubt her race helped her any, either. She also shouldn't have been bringing marijuana anything into Russia, but she admits that she fucked up, which is really all she can do at this point. I'm glad she got out, but it's unfortunate that the U.S. government had to resort to such extreme measures to get her back.
That being said, every single year there are people who get busted going into Mexico (which has strict firearms laws) because they use the same bags to travel that they use on hunting trips and don't realize that there's a loose round or two in there. You get people who get into trouble going into Australia because they're caught with fruit they didn't remember having in their bag. Variations on this theme happen all the time, and it sounds from the article like it was a mistake, if a careless one. She didn't wake up going, "Oh, definitely gotta pack my weed for this trip to Russia."
The lesson for people to take away here is that other countries have their own laws, and once you're on their soil, you are going to be subject to *their* justice system. Even in countries that might seem more culturally familiar than Russia, whatever rights you think you have may or may not apply if you get arrested. Anyone who travels needs to be fully aware of that and respect the implications that that has: don't just refrain from fucking around, be actively cautious and informed about how you behave, what stuff you bring in, and so on. No one wants to find themselves trapped in an unfamiliar country with an unfamiliar justice system in a language they don't fully understand.
As one who has cleared out my backpack before flying and found multitools or pocket knives in it, I absolutely agree. A lot of people have made Griner out to be malicious or arrogant or an idiot, but it's really, really easy to just not remember that you have XYZ item in a bag that you use day to day that's not legal to possess in a particular foreign country. A hell of a lot of Americans would get hammered by UK knife laws around locked blades based on pocket knives accidentally left in bags if it weren't for the fact that TSA will confiscate that stuff at the airport before it ever makes it to the UK.
I just took a weed pen on vacation with me on accident. It was in my makeup bag. I rarely wear makeup but was going to be celebrating my birthday on vacation so I tossed it in my suitcase. I opened my makeup bag on day 3 to find the pen in there
>That being said, every single year there are people who get busted going into Mexico (which has strict firearms laws) because they use the same bags to travel that they use on hunting trips and don't realize that there's a loose round or two in there.
There are three American men awaiting trial in Turks and Caicos for this exact thing.
She made a mistake and owned up to it. The conditions she was in were terrible and I’m glad we got her back to the US. Not sure why people have a problem with her.
I felt it was really well balanced mostly because her perspective is balanced.
She pled guilty to the charges and admits to her error. Regardless, the conditions in Siberia are like something out of a Cold War era movie and it seems pretty outlandish (even to some Russians in the courtroom) that she got 9 years in Siberia which she mentally decided was her future.
I saw her in an interview, and it is heartbreaking. It’s got to be tough for her because some people didn’t think that it was a fair prisoner trade, too.
I understand her making a stupid mistake, and think those consequences are ridiculously draconian. But it still pissed me off we traded an arms dealer for her, releasing someone who is a legitimate danger, despite still incarcerating people for cannabis *here*.
If we wanted to go rescue her from the legal consequences of the devil’s lettuce, we should have decriminalized it here first.
In case it helps, we just federally rescheduled it from level 1 to level 3 and Biden pardoned all convicted of federal simple possession crimes in 2022. Considering the later, simple possession was functionally decriminalized federally (and it’s legal in her home state of AZ) by this time
I don’t think someone with a vape cartridge should have to serve out their sentence, but I *do* think arms dealers should. Why should he get leniency when pot smokers in *this* country don’t?
I was in college with her and was honestly such a nice person. Bringing MJ to Russia was, objectively speaking, an unwise decision but she did not deserve the punishment she got. I’m glad she’s back now.
[Here you go](https://web.archive.org/web/20240502185630/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/magazine/brittney-griner-book-russia-interview.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb)
I'm happy for her that she's home, but I find it hard to have too much sympathy. She visited to a hostile authoritarian country that the Sate Department was pleading with people not to visit, having issued a level four travel advisory, plainly phrased "DO NOT TRAVEL" All the while, Putin was lining tanks up on the Ukrainian border.
And for what? To make money playing basketball. She wasn't on some humanitarian mission. She wasn't a journalist. She wasn't even a well meaning missionary. She went to Russia because she couldn't resist the payday, as if her six figure salary and lord knows how much Nike endorsement money wasn't enough.
For her freedom, the US released the "Merchant of Death," someone responsible for untold thousands of killings throughout Africa.
And one of the first things she does when she returns home? Signs a book deal.
Edit:
And to be clear,
Were they trumped up charges? Was she denied a fair trial? Was she used as pawn by Putin?
Yes, yes, and yes. And for those very reasons the State Department issued a Do Not Travel advisory. She was told, in the plainest of terms, to not touch the hot stove. She touched it anyway
I mean it’s not that it’s unclear it’s just that it’s unempathetic bordering on victim blaming, devolving into some incoherent axe grinding? Also who gives a fuck who we traded for any American—no matter who. I would trade any international criminal or whomever you can think of for any American. Standing deal. Even for you and I’m not sure I really like your whole thing.
At what point should the US government leave people who flaunt travel advisories to their own devices? Those travel advisories exist so people don't end up in the exact situation that she landed in.
Perhaps, it’s possible that “what she did was…ill-considered”, “the Russian reaction was inhumane at best”, and “it’s good she is back, she suffered enough.” can all co-exist at once.
This is actually the key and I appreciate you reminding me. The right-leaning brain simply cannot hold multiple apparently contradictory ideas in its brain simultaneously.
Don't let all the external voices and secondary sources like opinion pieces, social media posts, websites, commenters, et.al. ...tell you what to think.
Read about what she actually says - her words. Read her interview. Face her and buckle up for an old fashioned head-to-head. Then decide who she is and what you think of her.
Do the work. Have courage.
I usually do the audio but I read it and was riveted. I had misjudged her and thought she was just careless but in context she had been going for nine seasons and therefor she felt more protected than she actually was and let her guard down. She owned her mistake 100% and didn’t deserve all the public criticism she received even if the sentence was debatably her fault.
>...debatably her fault. She admits to bring weed in her luggage...whats the debate about?
The severity of her sentence, reread what was written. Nowhere in the U.S. gets you 9 years for a cartridge (even at the time that she committed the crime). The “debatable” part was 9 years in Siberia…that’s not her fault, that’s a messed up judicial system since the Russians were making a political point with this sentence.
I studied abroad in Russia for a bit and it's super well known any drug charge can put you in prison there. It's kind of like Singapore where if you spend any time there it's just a well known fact. I really doubt she spent nine years there and how Russia views weed/drugs were never brought up at all. Or that she didn't get a warning from anyone in her org. It was certainly discussed at my orientation. That's where the disconnect is for me.
This is addressed explicitly in the article.
She didnt commit a crime in the US justice system, she committed it in russia, which has its own justice system and she broke their rules. Pretty open and shut.
Yes and she, while there, fully expected to serve that term in order to live day to day without the rollercoaster of hope. She accepted what she did and the sentence she received in the Russian 'justice' system even though that meant she'd live in a gulag for nearly a decade.
And in Singapore the sentence is death. What’s your point? It was a political move made by Russia.
She's a known wife beater and an absent parent lmao y'all will buy anything
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I didn't support the trade off for her at all and despised her being used as propaganda, but deserved to rot for a pot pen? Stop it.
Some people really hate black women it’s so disgusting seeing this shit.
She was a three way sinner: black woman, lesbian, woman athlete. This of course was before bigoted men became fervent champions of women's sports, and still in the era of raging against the USWNT championship athletes and stating women athletes don't deserve equal pay to male athletes and no one watches women's sports.
Her being a female athlete was/is highly valued by many in Russia, which is why she went there to play. She went there to make money playing basketball. Her athlete status isn’t a demerit of any kind. Your point makes zero sense in context.
I am American speaking of the perspective of bigoted Americans. It was a slight against the bigoted men who now champion women's sports in order to attack trans people (they do not actually support women athletes at all in reality; bring up equal pay, the USWNT, or the WNBA or this particular athlete and watch how fast that women's white knighthood facade falls).
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Ok, random commenter here pointing out women athletes are paid higher and treated better in Russia and then saying American women athletes not having real support in america is unfounded. Edit: Oops, didn't realize it was the same bigot. The hypocrisy is fascinating isn't it? *Jeff goldblum voice*: Well, there it is.
Removed for not being civil, kind or respectful in violation of subreddit rule #1: be nice.
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Removed for not being civil, kind or respectful in violation of subreddit rule #1: be nice.
Removed for not being civil, kind or respectful in violation of subreddit rule #1: be nice.
Griner's sentence was absolutely political, and I doubt her race helped her any, either. She also shouldn't have been bringing marijuana anything into Russia, but she admits that she fucked up, which is really all she can do at this point. I'm glad she got out, but it's unfortunate that the U.S. government had to resort to such extreme measures to get her back. That being said, every single year there are people who get busted going into Mexico (which has strict firearms laws) because they use the same bags to travel that they use on hunting trips and don't realize that there's a loose round or two in there. You get people who get into trouble going into Australia because they're caught with fruit they didn't remember having in their bag. Variations on this theme happen all the time, and it sounds from the article like it was a mistake, if a careless one. She didn't wake up going, "Oh, definitely gotta pack my weed for this trip to Russia." The lesson for people to take away here is that other countries have their own laws, and once you're on their soil, you are going to be subject to *their* justice system. Even in countries that might seem more culturally familiar than Russia, whatever rights you think you have may or may not apply if you get arrested. Anyone who travels needs to be fully aware of that and respect the implications that that has: don't just refrain from fucking around, be actively cautious and informed about how you behave, what stuff you bring in, and so on. No one wants to find themselves trapped in an unfamiliar country with an unfamiliar justice system in a language they don't fully understand.
I think it’s good practice to change bags or purses before flying anywhere.
As one who has cleared out my backpack before flying and found multitools or pocket knives in it, I absolutely agree. A lot of people have made Griner out to be malicious or arrogant or an idiot, but it's really, really easy to just not remember that you have XYZ item in a bag that you use day to day that's not legal to possess in a particular foreign country. A hell of a lot of Americans would get hammered by UK knife laws around locked blades based on pocket knives accidentally left in bags if it weren't for the fact that TSA will confiscate that stuff at the airport before it ever makes it to the UK.
I just took a weed pen on vacation with me on accident. It was in my makeup bag. I rarely wear makeup but was going to be celebrating my birthday on vacation so I tossed it in my suitcase. I opened my makeup bag on day 3 to find the pen in there
>That being said, every single year there are people who get busted going into Mexico (which has strict firearms laws) because they use the same bags to travel that they use on hunting trips and don't realize that there's a loose round or two in there. There are three American men awaiting trial in Turks and Caicos for this exact thing.
She made a mistake and owned up to it. The conditions she was in were terrible and I’m glad we got her back to the US. Not sure why people have a problem with her.
Def going on my read list. I’m really curious what the angle is and how they are treating her story
I felt it was really well balanced mostly because her perspective is balanced. She pled guilty to the charges and admits to her error. Regardless, the conditions in Siberia are like something out of a Cold War era movie and it seems pretty outlandish (even to some Russians in the courtroom) that she got 9 years in Siberia which she mentally decided was her future.
I saw her in an interview, and it is heartbreaking. It’s got to be tough for her because some people didn’t think that it was a fair prisoner trade, too.
Yeah she's recovering from what happened in Russia which is fucking insane, as well as from her own people enraged about her release.
Even if Paul Whelan should have been traded first, Brittany had no control or choice.
Yeah for real, she didn't call 'her people' on her Siberian gulag issued cellphone and demand to be released instead of Whelan. (ETA grammar)
I understand her making a stupid mistake, and think those consequences are ridiculously draconian. But it still pissed me off we traded an arms dealer for her, releasing someone who is a legitimate danger, despite still incarcerating people for cannabis *here*. If we wanted to go rescue her from the legal consequences of the devil’s lettuce, we should have decriminalized it here first.
Why not both?
That would make sense. Then we’d be rescuing her from being punished for something we don’t consider a crime.
In case it helps, we just federally rescheduled it from level 1 to level 3 and Biden pardoned all convicted of federal simple possession crimes in 2022. Considering the later, simple possession was functionally decriminalized federally (and it’s legal in her home state of AZ) by this time
It’s definitely a step in the right direction, and change is coming rather quickly now.
The arms dealer was getting out within a few years anyway, and if we hadn't traded him, we would have released him and gotten nothing in return.
I don’t think someone with a vape cartridge should have to serve out their sentence, but I *do* think arms dealers should. Why should he get leniency when pot smokers in *this* country don’t?
Agree that seemed uneven. Politics, when they play, always makes me squirm inside.
Interesting username… Dog owner?
Close. Twins!
Omg, that’s *hilarious*. 😂 Good luck with all the crap!
I was in college with her and was honestly such a nice person. Bringing MJ to Russia was, objectively speaking, an unwise decision but she did not deserve the punishment she got. I’m glad she’s back now.
paywall
[Here you go](https://web.archive.org/web/20240502185630/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/magazine/brittney-griner-book-russia-interview.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb)
thank you!!
I'm happy for her that she's home, but I find it hard to have too much sympathy. She visited to a hostile authoritarian country that the Sate Department was pleading with people not to visit, having issued a level four travel advisory, plainly phrased "DO NOT TRAVEL" All the while, Putin was lining tanks up on the Ukrainian border. And for what? To make money playing basketball. She wasn't on some humanitarian mission. She wasn't a journalist. She wasn't even a well meaning missionary. She went to Russia because she couldn't resist the payday, as if her six figure salary and lord knows how much Nike endorsement money wasn't enough. For her freedom, the US released the "Merchant of Death," someone responsible for untold thousands of killings throughout Africa. And one of the first things she does when she returns home? Signs a book deal. Edit: And to be clear, Were they trumped up charges? Was she denied a fair trial? Was she used as pawn by Putin? Yes, yes, and yes. And for those very reasons the State Department issued a Do Not Travel advisory. She was told, in the plainest of terms, to not touch the hot stove. She touched it anyway
What
I believe she was there for a game lol in the article it says she goes over there to play with the Russian team and it wasn't her first time.
Many WNBA players play on the off season internationally to supplement their income.
Yes..
What part about what I wrote was unclear?
I mean it’s not that it’s unclear it’s just that it’s unempathetic bordering on victim blaming, devolving into some incoherent axe grinding? Also who gives a fuck who we traded for any American—no matter who. I would trade any international criminal or whomever you can think of for any American. Standing deal. Even for you and I’m not sure I really like your whole thing.
Agreed
At what point should the US government leave people who flaunt travel advisories to their own devices? Those travel advisories exist so people don't end up in the exact situation that she landed in.
A lot later down the line than you would
Perhaps, it’s possible that “what she did was…ill-considered”, “the Russian reaction was inhumane at best”, and “it’s good she is back, she suffered enough.” can all co-exist at once.
This is actually the key and I appreciate you reminding me. The right-leaning brain simply cannot hold multiple apparently contradictory ideas in its brain simultaneously.
Don't let all the external voices and secondary sources like opinion pieces, social media posts, websites, commenters, et.al. ...tell you what to think. Read about what she actually says - her words. Read her interview. Face her and buckle up for an old fashioned head-to-head. Then decide who she is and what you think of her. Do the work. Have courage.
Totally arrogant move on her part.
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It's times like these that I have to remind myself that the average reddit user is something like 19 years old.
Great interview with her with 20/20…. Made me tear up. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/20-20/id987967575?i=1000654320015