To Repatriate or Not

An American citizen has been caught with marijuana in Russia where it is illegal.
On one side of the issue, some folks want to make a prisoner swap to bring her back to the US. Involved in the trade is this WNBA star and another US citizen for an arms dealer and Putin ally, some call the merchant of death.
On the other side, some criticize the WNBA star for not paying proper respect for the US flag during the Olympics and elsewhere and others criticize the supposed trade because the arms dealer is responsible for the deaths of thousands, including members of the US armed forces.
Some members of the first group accuse members of the second group of being racists while glossing over the fact the US is engaged in a proxy war against Russia, the countless number of people in the US in jail for marijuana possession, the real possibility the ‘merchant of death’ will help murder more Americans if freed and the WNBA star was familiar with Russian laws concerning marijuana possession.
I believe their accusations of racism are disingenuous – why should the WNBA star get a free pass when so many are in jail here in the US, especially when she was familiar with Russian law?
I am not against freeing American citizens incarcerated abroad, but to call comments against her release racist is just a way to silence different opinions. It is meant to be the final word in the discussion because someone doesn’t have a better argument to counter a different point of view. Demonizing opposing viewpoints might make that someone feel like they won the argument when in actuality it just demonstrates how weak and feckless that position really is.