AMERICA-HATER NOW STANDS FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

Brittney Griner used to boycott the National Anthem. So what WAS it about 10 months in a Russian gulag that's suddenly made her stand by our great flag with pride?

 

By Meghan McCain

 

Daily Mail

May 22, 2023 

 

32-year-old Griner – to her great credit – did something she hasn't done in a regular season game in years. She stood for the playing of the National Anthem.

 

Often people don't appreciate what they have until those things are gone. And so is the case with WNBA superstar Brittney Griner.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist made her triumphant return to the basketball court on Friday after spending nearly 300 days in a Russian prison.

Griner, who plays for my hometown team the Phoenix Mercury, got a standing ovation from 14,000 fans, nearly doubling the team's average attendance last season.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff were there. The V.P. tweeted a video of Griner and herself getting choked up in the locker room.

The post was captioned, 'Brittney Griner's return to the court is an inspiration to our nation - and is a testament to her strength and courage.'

The event was beautiful. I got emotional watching it. And 32-year-old Griner – to her great credit – did something she hasn't done in a regular season game in years. She stood for the playing of the National Anthem.

Funny what a nine-year sentence in a notorious Russian penal colony will do to a person. Because less than three short years ago, Griner claimed her days of saluting America were over.

'I honestly feel we should not play the National Anthem during our season,' she told the Arizona Republic in July of 2020. 'If the league continues to want to play it, that's fine… I'll not be out there.'

Griner's seasons-long public protest was sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement.

 

The two-time Olympic gold medalist made her triumphant return to the basketball court on Friday after spending nearly 300 days in a Russian prison.

 

When the Star Spangled Banner played, she stayed in the locker room.

To be fair, Griner was more balanced in her public remarks than most. She noted that she did not mean, 'any disrespect to our country,' and insisted that she does, 'have pride for my country.'

But of course, that wasn't how millions of Americans saw the demonstrations that spread like wildfire around the world of sports.

From the NFL's Colin Kaepernick to Women's soccer's Megan Rapinoe, it seemed like everywhere one turned there was a famous athlete using their platform to punch their country in the gut.

President Donald Trump tapped into the visceral anger that many felt – me included – when we saw some of the most privileged people in the country appearing to trash their own country.

So, what changed, between then and now? Why the 180-degree turn from Brittney Griner? Has America solved its issues with supposedly biased policing?

No, not exactly.

It turns out that Griner didn't appreciate her freedom, until she lost it.

In February 2022, she was arrested at Moscow's International Airport for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil and convicted of drug smuggling, in what was widely recognized to a sham trial, carried out by Vladimir Putin's thugs.

Griner was used as a political pawn amid the Ukraine War, and she was eventually traded away by the Kremlin in return for a notorious Russian arms dealer held in a U.S. prison.

Today, Griner has a very different view of the national anthem.

'What I went through and everything, it just means a little bit more to me now. So, I want to be able to stand. I was literally in a cage [in Russia] and could not stand the way I wanted to,' she told ESPN.

'Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely want to stand. Now everybody that will not stand or not come out, I totally support them 100 percent. That's our right, as an American in this great country.'

Exactly. That's always been the point. One can burn the American flag in this country without consequence, but that doesn't mean that one should.

 

In February 2022, she was arrested at Moscow's International Airport for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil and convicted of drug smuggling, in what was widely recognized to a sham trial, carried out by Vladimir Putin's thugs.

To be fair, Griner was more balanced in her public remarks than most. She noted that she did not mean, 'any disrespect to our country,' and insisted that she does, 'have pride for my country.'

Griner was used as a political pawn amid the Ukraine War, and she was eventually traded away by the Kremlin in return for a notorious Russian arms dealer (above) held in a U.S. prison.

 

Americans have the right to protest, to speak, to bear arms and to practice the religion of their choice. Our property and wealth cannot be stripped away on the whim of some tyrant. We have a right to due process. It is a true privilege to live in a country with guaranteed freedoms, and as Brittney learned, it is rare.

Over the last several years, so many of these anthem protesters behaved like children, and worse, cowards who went along with the crowd instead of standing for what is right.

The National Anthem and the American flag are not symbols of political parties or ideologies. They are symbols of the American spirit – something we can all appreciate and rally behind. Griner recognizes that now.

This country is not – as progressives would have us believe – inherently flawed.

America was founded in 1776 when the Second Continental Congress declared the country's independence from the British – and not in 1619 when the first slave ships arrived in the colonies.

The U.S. Constitution is a dynamic work of genius that enables ordinary people to govern themselves, and not an out-dated document that requires manipulation by power-hungry elites, who believe that they know best.

Americans are not doomed to repeat the errors of our past, but capable of correcting the mistakes of our predecessors.

And above all else, America is an experiment in self-government. America is self-correcting.

Yet this was all ignored. Athletes – black, white, gay, straight, and especially women – have more opportunity to succeed and profit in their sport here in America than any other country on earth. But when they attacked the symbols that unite us, they showed an ungratefulness that flew in the face of reality.

That's what incensed so many Americans.

Even now, one of my close friends, Vladimir Kara-Murza, is wrongfully detained in a Russian jail. Often, we only see him sitting in a courtroom cage, like Griner once did.

Russia had targeted this 41-year-old father for years. They tried to poison him twice and failed. He survived to tell the truth about the Russian regime, and now he's being punished for it. A month ago, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

 

Even now, one of my close friends, Vladimir Kara-Murza (above), is wrongfully detained in a Russian jail. Often, we only see him sitting in a courtroom cage, like Griner once did.

U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich (above) are also being held in Russia. There's no telling what will come of their cases.

 

He is a true hero for standing up to an authoritarian regime. But unlike Brittney Griner, he's not a cause celebre promoted every day on ESPN. And of course, he's not an American, so the Biden White House and State Department continue to ignore his case.

U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich are also being held in Russia. There's no telling what will come of their cases.

I imagine that Griner reflected on all of this and how lucky she is to live in a country that values human life.

If only she didn't need to suffer first. It's a lesson for all those, who so flippantly thumb their noses at our unifying national symbols.

Yes, our great country has serious issues, but America's promise is that we can fix them. Sadly, many of her National Anthem protesting teammates are still stuck in the locker room.