The Hill We Climb, Part 2: Brittney Griner Released
Last summer, I fantasized about what Amanda Gorman might say if any of her words might somehow reach Brittney Griner.
Griner, an American woman wrongfully held in Russia by a corrupt regime, and also a star basketball player, might opt to read Gorman’s words herself now that she has been released.
I hope she does. She may find powerful resonances there. When she’s ready.
Americans, by and large, sit on the sidelines as a tiny cadre of diplomats and other professionals try to work out what to do about incidents like these, and others which remain to be resolved.
In 2016, North Korea’s dictator tortured an American student to death. In 2017, President Trump sent several nasty tweets to the man responsible, then appears to have accepted $20 million in loans from the torturer/murderer for some reason. Maybe that was reparations?
In 2021, Russia’s dictator held a basketball player on a trumped up charge. America’s president sent several billions of dollars to Ukrainians who used that money to buy weapons systems and obliterate major chunks of the Russian military.
In 2022, millions of Americans believe President Trump is somehow “tougher” than Biden.
Are they living in an upside-down fantasy?
In 2020, millions of Georgians voted to elect Reverend Raphael Warnock, who ran against a woman whose major public accomplishment appears to have been owning the Atlanta Dream, a women’s professional basketball team. It was a tight race with a runoff, but the reverend triumphed.
In 2022, millions of Georgians had a chance to confirm Reverend Warnock, who ran this time against a professional athlete who was also Black.
Some Putinesque advisor might have thought holding one Black woman might help Trump and other American allies during the 2022 midterms. After all, if millions of Americans think Trump was “tough” and “commanded respect,” then they’ll believe anything.
Reality presents some pretty twisted fantasies that are pretty widely believed. Unfortunately, gentler fantasies, like the thought that Brittney Griner might be comforted by music and poetry, seem unrealistic, while harsher ones remain.
But the harsh fantasies are not all that remains. Sometimes, a wrongfully held woman gets released in time to return home for the holidays with her family. May she find respite and privacy, and may other such fantasies come true this day.
And if they do not, may the voices of poets continue to speak across ages, reaching deep into the cracks and secret desolations, sharing truths that comfort.
