I've been watching the news for at least the past 20 years, and as I've gotten older, I realize that I have privileges that most of the world does not have.

I'm white and I'm a Christian.

Why do I believe I'm privileged based off of that, you ask? I have never and most likely will never be the victim of discrimination for either one of those aspects of my life.

I was not raised to be scared or wary of police. In fact, because of some of my family members' jobs, I'm friends with police officers.

I have never faced religious persecution. In fact, Christian crusades were bloody and resulted in casualties (totally against the Bible, by the way). I am also less likely to be "randomly selected" in an airport.

Media reinforces my privilege on a daily basis. When mainstream media reports on a mass shooting, they never call a white male who commits mass murder a terrorist. When they report on a white male who raped an unconscious woman as a misguided, a good student, and a great athlete who had a bright future ahead of him before this "incident."

But when reporting on a person of color or from a religion other than Christianity (i.e. Islam), they make sure to comment on their race and or their religion. When a person of Islamic faith or from the middle east is involved in a crime, they are labeled as a terrorist. When a black man is arrested for dealing weed, he is more likely to be sent to prison than the white man who did the same thing and was given probation and community service.

For these people, there is never a mention of the bright futures that they had, there is no getting out of a sentence three months in for "good behavior." There are month-long discussions on news stations about how terrible these people are.

While the Parkland shooter was deemed "misguided," the students are the ones being dragged through the mud for speaking up for stronger gun laws.

I know that if I go into a store, I am less likely to be suspected of theft than if a person of color who went into the same store. I am seen as less of a threat.

Media has perpetuated these fears, and sadly it's nothing new. My privilege is rooted deeply in the interwoven history of the world, particularly in the United States.

You see, I am not just privileged to be Christian. Politically, I am privileged to be protestant. When John F. Kennedy was running for President, his Catholicism was considered somewhat scandalous. This was based on the misinformation that had been perpetuated by media when it comes to Catholicism and the simple fact that no other sitting president had been Catholic.

Although Catholicism is the church that most mainstream television shows portray to represent Christianity, many Protestant churches have separated themselves from the church throughout history. While there are many different denominations of Christianity (i.e. Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, etc), they all are frequently placed under the Christian umbrella and are not separated into its own umbrella as the Catholic church is.

While the beginning of Christianity was difficult, as was the start of any religion, throughout history, white Protestants have been thrown a bone. There were never crusaders to invade our country and force us to change religions, there has never been a Christian genocide in America, we dictated how history was told in schools, and we were never forced to leave our homes because foreigners wanted what we had.

I'm not saying that people, no matter their race, religion, class, etc. don't have problems. Of course, they do, life is full of problems it isn't perfect.

What I am saying is that I know I have privileges that others don't have.

I know that my privilege, both in race and religion, is rooted in a troubling past (and that is putting it kindly), and there is nothing I can do about it.

However, I have a digital platform that I can use — through Odyssey and other social media — to stand against injustice for all people.