Looking Back: Our Spring Fellows Reflect on Brittney Griner’s Visit
On February 25th, 2025, the Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab invited Brittney Griner to come to the USC as the recipient of our Media Trailblazer Award. For this occasion, our Fellows not only got to see the show: they got to meet Griner in-person as well!
Here are some of their reflections from that day:
Daniella Lake
I never expected to meet Brittney Griner and hear her story from her lips. I remember hearing about her situation on “The Friend Zone” podcast, but I didn’t know much about her then.
During “An Evening with Britney Griner,” I was completely captivated the entire time she spoke. A lot of things she said stayed with me. One thing in particular stuck with me: her discussion about trusting your gut and listening to your soul and the universe. She mentioned roadblocks in her arrival to Russia, like being unable to take a COVID-19 test on time, which made her stay in New York an extra night. Hers is one of many stories where people felt the universe seemingly stopped them from going somewhere before something bad happened.
Another thing that stuck with me was hearing about her experience of the power of community, specifically how her wife and women from across the country mobilized supporters to bring awareness to her detainment and ultimately fight for her release. Fostering a sense of community and giving back to it is incredibly important to me. Hearing Griner’s experience made me realize that in moments when you may be unable to advocate for yourself, it’s your community and your loved ones who will have to stand up for you.
Similarly, Griner described the small acts of kindness of the women she befriended in prison, which showed me how small actions could transform someone’s entire experience. If Brittney didn’t have a friend who translated everything for her, her already traumatizing experience would’ve been even more cruel. Being a kind human being can change someone’s entire experience and life.
Before the event, there was a meet-and-greet for Bass Lab Fellows and student-athletes to ask Griner questions.
I asked her, “What did you wish you had known when you were just starting out?”
She wished she had read her contracts. She emphasized that no one will just give you everything you want, especially regarding employment job opportunities and benefits. “You have to advocate for yourself and ask for the things you want in those contracts.”
As a soon-to-be graduate and job seeker, I felt it was really important for me and other students to hear this message.
Griner’s experience in Russia also reminds us of the extra precautions Black women have to practice when traveling abroad. As someone who enjoys travel and wants to travel more, I always search for experiences of Black women in the location. It’s unfortunate that, because as Black women, we stand out in these spaces. We can get caught up in scary situations or be targeted for harassment.
In conclusion, hearing Griner’s story from her in person was powerful and heartbreaking.
Yvonne Abedi
When I first heard about Brittney Griner and her story, there was a lot of negative media speculation. So many stories painted Griner as an unintelligent criminal and every descriptor outside her true character. But deep down in my gut, I knew there was more to the story, which I learned in depth at the Trailblazer Awards.
Throughout Griner’s detainment and trial, her humanity was missing from the media coverage. It was refreshing to begin the event with a conversation about her upbringing and relationship with her parents. Seeing her face light up when she discussed her mom’s lack of athletic ability or fixing cars with her father showed the importance of these relationships in her life. It was a reminder that there’s a real life attached to her story. She has loved ones who depend on her presence in their lives. Having that human connection is critical within reparative justice and diminishing narratives associated with marginalized communities.
As she recounted her experience in prison and the moments leading up to her arrest, I saw so much resilience and strength in her as a person. Reliving her traumatic moments shined a light on the injustices within prisons and drug laws; it’s something that I can only commend because it’s a weight I wouldn’t be able to carry. As Black women, society expects perfection of us. Whenever we make mistakes, the reaction is overdramatized in ways that tarnish our names. Everything Black women do is heavily politicized and broadcasted for the world to judge. Griner’s experience exemplifies this treatment. Although she received immense amounts of support, the vile remarks she also received showed her arrest was a catalyst for people to display their racism and homophobia.
Griner’s humility and humor stood out as she spoke at the event. She unexpectedly snuck in elements of humor as she detailed the harsh prison conditions. Her humor enabled her to persevere throughout her detention and helped her return to herself, her personality before prison. Her vulnerability also left a lasting impression. As a Black woman, I believe we’re conditioned to view vulnerability as weakness. I’ve realized my lack of vulnerability is my actual weakness; it prevents a connection to my human complexities.
Although this event was meant to highlight Griner’s story, resilience, and advocacy, I left reflecting on ways I could implement Griner’s qualities in my own life. Within those two short hours, I went through all the emotions, from the verge of tears to laughter, then anger. The event helped me realize that, as humans, we’ve become too wrapped up in our day-to-day lives and futures, so wrapped up that our spirit suffers. In Brittney Griner’s story, I saw that the spirit brings us success.
Mycah Hart-Powell
The Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab hosted its annual Media Trailblazers Award, honoring three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner. The Coming Home: A Night with Brittney Griner event featured a candid conversation about Griner’s heart-wrenching story of resilience and her testament to the power of community. It captivated the audience, leaving enough unanswered questions to compel many attendees to purchase her book.
Brittney Griner’s story took me on an emotional rollercoaster, so the experience of hearing her speak in person was uniquely profound. Before her wrongful detainment in Russia, I had not viewed Griner as an influential figure outside of basketball. However, her generosity, restraint, and authenticity throughout her situation demonstrated her undeniable leadership off the court. Before the main event, she met with student-athletes to share wisdom about caring for one’s body for career longevity and listening to their elders. Although I am not an athlete, advice like this resonates differently as you age.
During the main session at Bing Theater, what stood out most was how her seemingly traditional upbringing shaped her perspective on justice. Having a father in law enforcement exposed her to the justice system early, acting both as a shield and a tool that would serve her in the long run. The conversation was so engaging that I didn’t have the chance to ask my questions. However, learning about the inhumane conditions of the Russian women’s prison forced me to consider the stark contrast between global incarceration systems and the harsh realities of the U.S. prison-industrial complex. This comparison left me reflecting on injustices that exist right before our eyes.
Another compelling aspect was the impact of this experience on Griner’s mental health. I wished there had been more time to explore how she has maintained resilience while recovering. One of the significant takeaways was understanding that injustices are always systemic. Her detention, occurring just before Russia invaded Ukraine, highlighted how Black women, regardless of their status, are often treated as disposable within larger systems of injustice.
Griner alluded to how her case became a spectacle and a bargaining chip for the Russian and U.S. administrations. While the specifics were not detailed, the inequity that led to her situation was evident. She was forced to play overseas due to the pay disparities in women’s sports. Despite these challenges, the Black community, particularly Black women, mobilized for her release, demonstrating the power of collective organizing and support.
I was also deeply moved by the resilience of Griner’s wife, Cherelle. While in law school, she was galvanized to complete her studies and use her skills to fight for her wife’s freedom. Beyond legal advocacy, she led grassroots efforts to petition for Griner’s release, highlighting the labor and leadership often required of Black women in the face of injustice.
The lab’s mission is to amplify overlooked or misrepresented stories. This event allowed Bass Lab Fellows to bear witness to Griner’s story in the spirit of the Black journalists and media pioneers before us. Hearing Griner’s firsthand account of injustice and survival reinforced my deep passion for uplifting Black women. Despite systemic barriers, we continue to innovate, create, and thrive. This event reaffirmed the importance of telling our stories and ensuring our voices are heard and valued.
Arija Martin
Attending ‘An Evening with Brittney Griner’ as part of the Media Trailblazer Awards series left me deeply moved and reflecting on how Black women’s stories are told. Griner’s story of imprisonment in Russia, its emotional and physical tolls, and the way the media framed her experience resonated with me on a level beyond the headlines. The evening centered on her ability to share such a painful journey with a universally understood strength. It provided insight into her story and, most importantly, prioritized her emotions. The evening spoke to Black women’s resilience in the face of narratives that seek to define them.
Griner’s words during the evening revealed the sacrifices she had made physically, emotionally, and mentally. She said, “With anything comes sacrifices.” This phrase felt almost understated, given the depth of what she endured. Being a Charlotta Bass Fellow, I sat in on a pre-event Q&A with USC athletes who asked Griner about her dedication and strength to her basketball career. As someone who is not a student-athlete outside of dance (which is indeed a sport), I could take an outsider’s perspective and listen to her insight while still resonating with her message. As an athlete, she spoke of: “asking so much of [her] body and not putting back into it,” a sentiment that extended beyond sports and mirrored the way Black women are often expected to pour into others while being denied the space to care for themselves.
At the top of the night, Griner reflected on her father’s advice to “do everything to the fullest” and her mother’s nurturing presence teaching her what love means and affectionately calling her “Lady Bug.” Her reflections on her parents added a personal layer to her journey. Yet, even with such a strong support system, she recounted moments of overwhelming sadness, rightfully so, during her imprisonment in Russia. During the event, she touched on how she contemplated taking her own life while in solitary confinement, faced unbearable physical conditions, and was subjected to the cruelty of a system that dehumanized her at every turn. She stated, “There’s a quality of life even for inmates, there are some things that are just not humane.”
Referencing conditions in which she had to cut up t-shirts just to clean herself. Griner was barely able to walk toward the end of her imprisonment due to her deteriorating health. She had to cut off her locs since they were getting wet in Russian winters, undoubtedly contributing to making her constantly sick. Those who held her captive reduced her to something less than human in their eyes.
Furthermore, Griner’s story reminded me of the work I recently read by Saidiya Hartman in “Scenes of Subjection,” in which she examines how suffering, especially that of Black women, is often rendered into spectacle or not recorded in history. It is something rarely acknowledged by those who do not experience this treatment. Hartman’s analysis of Black suffering as both hyper-visible and invisible felt hauntingly present in Griner’s testimony. Much of what she shared that night, from the inhumane conditions, the way Russian officials laughed as they smelled the CBD cartridge to the lack of translation during her trial, was never fully covered in the media. Her story was, at best, sensationalized and, at worst, manipulated to fit political narratives. She acknowledged that her ordeal- “probably would’ve been quiet if Russia and Ukraine had not gone to war two days later.”
The timing of her arrest and the global political climate ensured that her story was no longer just hers. It became a bargaining chip, a headline, a symbol. But beneath that, there was a woman, a wife, a daughter, an athlete who was reckoning with a stolen future. She explained that she calculated how old her parents would be when released, thought about the children she and her wife wanted to have, and realized her basketball career might be over. The personal stakes were immense but overshadowed by the broader political framing.
Black women have long been subjected to distorted narratives, painted as either too strong to break or too angry to be understood. Griner’s experience exemplified the complexities of this reality. She was dehumanized by both the Russian government and the U.S. media in different ways and turned into a headline and a symbol of political strife. Yet, she remains steadfast, reclaiming her voice and telling her story on her terms.
By the end of the evening, I felt a deep sadness and an overwhelming sense of admiration. Griner’s ability to endure, reflect, and continue forward is illustrative of a lineage of Black women whose stories are often rewritten or erased but persist. The weight of her experience lingers, not just in the details of what she endured but in what she represents: a Black woman demanding to be seen not as a symbol but as a whole, complex human being. Her words, resilience, and the silences in her story that the media never told all remind us that there is power in telling our own stories and resistance in being seen and heard in our full humanity.
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Unsung Black Press
The Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab at USC Annenberg is a pioneering research and teaching initiative that is dedicated to preserving the rich legacy of Black media makers. Our series, Unsung Black Press, focuses on little known West Coast Black journalism pioneers who have shaped the field, from the time of abolition to today.
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