North Korea sentenced a US college student to 15 years of hard labor after he committed a small crime before trying to leave the country this January.

This story has recently bombarded social media streams but has been an ongoing issue and finally trial in the last week. I clicked on an article about it last week and, in horror, watched as Otto Warmbier sobbed on the stand and begged for the mercy of the North Korean government.  I quietly cried in my room as I watched the livelihood of this student be ripped out from under his feet.

This story shakes me. Warmbier is a 21-year-old student from the University of Virginia. He is a fellow student; he is my friend; he is my brother. Perhaps this is why this story and the tale of his adventure gone terribly wrong in North Korea so greatly disturbs me. But I’m afraid it’s more than that, and this shock comes from a more deeply rooted value.

Warmbier is an American, educated white male. He is privileged. He represents the dominant majority, the group of people in this country that hold the power and receive all of the many benefits that go along with being in a privileged and dominant position.

Perhaps this is why I am so discomforted by this story. While I work to be educated and am progressive in my political and social ideas and values, I still have these inherent and subconscious sexist and racist veins in my body that have been cultivated and fostered by society.

I was discouraged, even appalled, with myself after my completely upset reaction to this story, because I’m afraid that this reaction primarily comes from the discomfort of seeing a white, privileged man in a position in which I rarely do: discriminated against, hurt, oppressed.  

Educated, white American males are rarely seen or presented in a state of oppression or danger in American media. It’s unexpected. It’s rare. So I have to ask myself: what if this happened to a woman? A black man? A Muslim? An American immigrant? Would the action then be more heavily mocked in the media as a stupid action and the individual be more ridiculed that Warmbier? Would people say that they are getting what they deserve more fervently? Would the issue even be covered as widely at all?

The point of this brief commentary is not to lessen the pain of Warmbier or to make light of his story, but rather to encourage ourselves to be thoughtful as we consume media and read headlines.

Likewise, this sad personal revelation does not make the story of Warmbier any less important or tragic; it must give me – it must give us – pause. We must work to be introspective and consider why and how things impact us in the way that we do and fight the propagated and instilled ideals that we can find in ourselves.

North Korea is a nation united under a dark and harrowing force. It is one of oppression and evil and pain and intolerance. Our freedom here in America and in the Western world should encourage us to fight these kinds of injustices seen in North Korea and yet still look to identify the ways we continue to hurt and discriminate in our own personal selves as well as in our respective communities and nations.