Sometimes I wonder if people tend to conflate empathy with sympathy?

If I see injustice happening to someone with a different identity than my own, I obviously can't relate to their experience of oppression in that scenario. But I can recognize how wrongly they're being (mis)treated...yet, that would more accurately be defined as "sympathy" rather than "empathy." At the same time, "sympathy" seems to have somewhat of a negative connotation, as though pity is being exhibited. Which is why, I'd venture, people tends to substitute the word "sympathy" with the word "empathy" when discussing how to show compassion?