The text messages that open Brittney Griner’s memoir are a chilling short story. “Hey baby I got stopped by security at customs.” “If you don’t hear from me for like one hour or more get my agent on the phone.” “Wake up plz.” “Baby text me plz I’m freaking out.” “Baby.” “Hello.” “This is it for me.”
The date was 17 February 2022 and Griner, one of the best basketball players in the world, was at a Moscow airport on her way to meet up with UMMC Ekaterinburg, for whom she played in the WNBA off-season. Back at her Arizona home it was 2am and her wife, Relle, was sleeping. Two near-empty vials of medicinal cannabis oil had just been found in Griner’s bag. Her phone and passport were taken, and she was made to sign a document in a language she didn’t understand. After 19 hours at customs, she was led away in handcuffs. “The future,” she writes in Coming Home, “was unimaginable.”
