Why Doesn’t Roxane Care About Paul?

It’s entirely unsurprising that Roxane Gay writes about the plight of WNBA player Brittney Griner, even if its extremely unlikely that Gay’s gone anywhere near a sporting event in her life unless it involved free vegan pizza. Yet, Gay not only shows a concern for Griner, but does so in the requisite “whataboutism” of why the rest of us don’t care as much as Gay says we should.

When unspeakable tragedies occur, people often call for unity. They’ll say, “We are Boston Strong” or “Je suis Charlie” or “We are [insert wherever or whomever the unthinkable has happened to].” It’s a laudable instinct to claim solidarity with those who have suffered, to imagine we truly understand the ways we are all connected, to proclaim that what affects one of us affects all of us.

Need someone point out that the “unspeakable” tragedies of which Gay speaks involved the mass murder of innocents? Details.

With the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner wrongfully detained in Russia for more than four months because a small amount of hashish oil was allegedly found in her luggage, I’m wondering why we haven’t seen more of a groundswell of demands for her release. In the attention economy, Ms. Griner’s predicament seems as if it’s being somewhat ignored.

Weird of Gay to say, given that the reason she knows the name Griner, as do most of us, is because this has been the most heavily exposed seizures of an American by Russia since Gary Powers. So having received extreme attention, far beyond that given so many others hanging out in Lubyanka, why is it still not good enough for Gay?

The media is, at least, covering the story, and some rights groups and athletes have spoken up, but that isn’t enough. More public pressure for action is necessary. “We are B.G.” should be a viral rallying cry, but it isn’t — and why? Is it misogyny? Racism? Homophobia? The unholy trifecta?

The “unholy trifecta.” Had the person been straight, white or male, Gay wouldn’t have given a shit if they lived or died. But because Griner possess Gay’s “unholy trifecta” of interests, she was moved off her sedentary rock to complain in the New York Times about how the entirety of a nation didn’t raise its voices in unison to demand the release of this “wrongfully” detained . . .  oh crap.

…because a small amount of hashish oil was allegedly found in her luggage.

Not only didn’t Griner not deny it, but she admitted that she had hash oil in her vaping cartridge. Is Russia not allowed to criminalize hash oil? Was Griner too stupid or silly to be expected to know she had hash oil or to remember to get rid of something that was a friggin’ crime before trying to to get on a plane with her Russian paycheck?* Was this really just a silly little “oopsie” where everyone in Russia from Putin on down shakes this head, chuckles and mutters “stoopid Americain.”

When Gay writes that Griner is wrongfully detained, she’s begging the question. We may strongly disagree that hash oil should be criminalized. We may strongly disagree that small amounts are worthy of arrest, prosecution and long prison sentences. We may strongly disagree with authoritarian regimes that allow warrantless searches at the border. And we may just be outraged whenever an American gets arrested and held in a foreign country, where they fail to have as trustworthy and legitimate a legal system as ours. Oh crap, again.

There are, in fact, reportedly more than 60 Americans who are wrongfully detained abroad, all wondering when or if they will be saved. They have families who are working tirelessly for their return. They all deserve our compassion and attention.

Why yes, there are more than 60 Americans who are detained abroad. Whether their detention is wrongful is another issue, America detained many thousands of foreign nationals, the vast majority for drugs. Like guess who. You know who sits in prison in Russia who didn’t have drugs and who Roxane Gay doesn’t give a flying shit about? Paul Whelan. Why doesn’t Gay care about Whelan? What did Whelan do to Gay? Or not do?

Ms. Griner is receiving more attention than most, but that’s not saying much. I suppose I have a particular empathy for her because as a tall, tattooed, Black, queer woman, I understand that we are often invisible and overlooked despite standing out.

Griner is receiving vastly more attention than anyone else, and vastly doesn’t come anywhere near the extent of attention this one American who ventured to Russia to make some extra loot, who knowingly had hash oil in her vape cartridge in friggin’ Russia (it didn’t magically leap into her luggage on its own, you know) but Griner, and Griner alone, despite receiving vastly (there’s that word again) more attention than any other American held by the Ruskies, is the only person worthy of Gay’s “particular empathy” because “tall, tattooed, Black, queer” women have to stick together or nobody will see them because they’re invisible. Invisible like Griner, receiving vastly more attention than any other American, or invisible like Gay who both has a New York Times soapbox and will never be missed in a crowd. Or it’s not a crowd, just Gay by herself. Whatever.

Is Brittney Griner’s life any less valuable than Paul Whelan? No, of course not, although her captivity is substantively different unless Whelan was a spy as Russia claims, because as much as we may be outraged by Griner’s detention and believe this is terribly wrong, it’s not as if it was baselessly wrongful. We believe that our imprisonment of guys from south of the border who came here illegally with illegal drugs is pretty legit. Is it less legit when Russia enforced its law, even if it’s against a “tall, tattooed, Black, queer woman”?

And if Gay can’t muster any empathy toward anyone who doesn’t share her taste in tats and body parts, who will care about Paul Whelan as well as Brittney Griner? Or are innocent white men throwaways in Gay’s new world of empathy?

*Gay, sports critic that she is, gratuitous tosses in that Griner “had” to go to Russia because WNBA players don’t receive the big numbers NBA stars get.

This infuriating situation also highlights the problems with the economies of women’s sports. W.N.B.A. players are paid a small fraction of what their N.B.A. counterparts earn.

Could it have something to do with the fact that tons of people watch NBA basketball, but vastly (yet again) fewer watch WNBA? Perhaps Gay would know this is she ever watched a basketball game, men’s or women’s. Or any sport.