Plog Number 20
Brittany Griner
Hello Ploggers, as always Hold your heads up High! I am bothered by the situation with Brittany Griner over in Russia. When I first heard of her story I thought “well how dumb was she to bring drugs across the border?” Then I didn’t pay the story a lot of attention. But over the last few weeks they have been showing her walking to and from the court room. It was then that it struck me that she is a 6’9” black woman with dreads in her hair. When she walks, she positively lumbers along. One of the cameramen got a shot of her face and I looked into her eyes. That was it for me. I saw her sadness and I instantly felt empathy for her.
First of all Brittany has been in jail for months. When I later saw the person who is representing her he had on a Hawaiian shirt and did not speak very lawyerly. I also noticed that she plead guilty to the charges brought against her. I think she may have done that just to avoid a long trial. Who knows how the Russian courts proceed in matters like these. The news was reporting that they have a 90% conviction rate overall. She had a 10% chance of getting acquitted. I wondered how she could be in jail for so long for a vape cartridge and cannabis oil. That wouldn’t even be a minor misdemeanor in this country. No way would you be held in jail for months for having cannabis oil. And vape cartridges are sold at Family Dollar. It certainly seems like they are treating her especially harshly due to her American status. Russia’s involvement in the Ukranian war that is opposed by the US, seems to have a bearing on her treatment.
Then they went on to say that Brittany has won 2 gold medals for the US in the Olympics. She only ended up working in Russia because the WNBA does not pay well in the US. So Brittany is really a victim of her circumstances. Then they went on to show Brittany’s wife who lives in the US. I saw pictures of the two of them back in happier days :( Now the wife is trying to get a meeting with Joe and urging him to help Brittany. I wish them the best. I hope Brittany gets credit for time served and she can come back home and never go back to Russia again.
I started this Plog because I am concerned with the rights of women. This case is outside of what I thought I would write about because I am not sports minded. But in this case, I want to support Brittany Griner. Women need to stick together and support each other. Too many times we are judgmental which I am guilty of in this case. Shame on me for that. I think our propensity to cut each other up is part of what has held up back in the business world. Men don’t do that same kind of thing to each other. I am not saying they support each other, but they seem to not waste energy on back biting and cattiness. That is something I think we have to address in order to be taken seriously and succeed.
Free Brittany Griner Reclaim
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