Brittney griner, WNBA’s star player was a protester of the national anthem before her last ill fated visit to Russia. She refused to stand when it was played in front of her games. Griner’s song has changed since she was released from prison in Russia.
Fox News reported that Griner told her fans she would stand during the anthem for the remainder of the WNBA season.
Phoenix Mercury’s player, who was arrested in Russia and convicted for bringing drugs into the country after authorities discovered a cannabis-infused cartridge in her luggage when she attempted to leave Moscow. She was arrested, tried, found guilty, and sentenced for ten years hard labor.
Brittney Grinder, a member of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and charged with…
After ten months in Russian court, Griner was released and sent back to the U.S.A.
Griner says that now that she’s safely back in America, the anthem has “definitely struck different” for her.
Griner’s agent wrote an opinion piece in Time magazine on Friday to explain why Griner will stand during the anthem.
Lindsay Kagawa Colas, a sports representative, wrote: “Last Year, most WNBA Teams chose to remain inside their locker rooms for the National Anthem as a sign of unified protest, against the incongruity that exists between the values represented by the anthem and the reality for Black Americans in America.”
Some teams or players might do the same this year as so many things remain unchanged. Some may kneel or sit. Others, such as Brittney Grinder, will stand — both physically and symbolically, to show their support for their peers’ right to express themselves loudly and boldly in accordance with our proudest traditions,” Colas said.
Colas continued by saying that Griner felt that she temporarily “lost her American freedoms” after she was wrongfully prosecuted. She now feels differently than before about the anthem.
Colas said, “Having been placed in a cage too small for Brittney’s frame, stripped of the essential American freedoms and deprived even of her most basic rights in a sham court and unjust sentence, Brittney will make a bold statement in this WNBA Season by standing up for these uniquely American freedoms – the most important being the absolute, inviolable, constitutionally protected right to stand, kneel, praise and protest and make your voice heard.”
Griner has made a complete turn around. Griner’s turn around is remarkable. In July 2020, he joined the anti-anthem movement and declared that the league should not even play the national anthem.
Griner said to the sports media at the time: “I truly feel that we shouldn’t play the national anthem in our season.” I believe we should make that kind of a statement.
She said that she will protest “regardless” of the country.
I’m protesting regardless. She said, “I’m not going out there to hear the national anthem.” If the league wants to continue to play it that’s fine. It’s going to be all year long. I won’t be there. I think that many others will do the same. “I can only speak for myself.”
What a difference a real persecutory act by a foreign country can make!
