Most African Americans Believe U.S. Institutions Were Designed To Hold Black People Back

BY KIANA COX

Pew Research

Editorial note to readers

A version of this study was originally published on June 10. We previously used the term “racial conspiracy theories” as an editorial shorthand to describe a complex and mixed set of findings. By using these words, our reporting distorted rather than clarified the point of the study. Changes to this version include: an updated headline, new “explainer” paragraphs, some additional context and direct quotes from focus group participants.

Claudia Deane, Mark Hugo Lopez and Neha Sahgal contributed to the revision of this report.

How we did this

While many Black Americans view themselves as at least somewhat successful and are optimistic about their financial future, previous work by Pew Research Center also finds most believe U.S. institutions fall short when it comes to treating Black people fairly.

A new analysis suggests that many Black Americans believe the racial bias in U.S. institutions is not merely a matter of passive negligence; it is the result of intentional design. Specifically, large majorities describe the prison (74%), political (67%) and economic (65%) systems in the U.S., among others, as having been designed to hold Black people back, either a great deal or a fair amount.

Black Americans’ mistrust of U.S. institutions is informed by history, from slavery to the implementation of Jim Crow laws in the South, to the rise of mass incarceration and more.

Several studies show that racial disparities in income, wealth, education, imprisonment and health outcomes persist to this day.

The goal of the current study is to explore how Black Americans think about U.S. institutions and the impact they have on their success.

Specifically, we examine the extent to which Black Americans believe U.S. institutions intentionally or negligently harm Black people and how personal experiences of racial discrimination factor into these beliefs.

The beliefs and narratives that Black Americans have about institutional harm have long been studied by scholars in the health and social sciences and the humanities. Narratives about how institutions were designed to hold Black people back also surfaced in several of the online focus groups Pew Research Center conducted with this study last year.

To measure the prevalence of these narratives of mistrust, we conducted a survey of 4,736 Black adults in the U.S. from Sept. 12 to 24, 2023.

First, respondents were asked if they had ever heard a series of statements about how U.S. institutions might intentionally or negligently harm Black people. Respondents were then asked if they thought these harms were also happening to Black people today. Here are some key findings about Black Americans’ beliefs in institutional mistrust.

76% of Black adults say Black public officials today are singled out to be discredited in a way that doesn’t happen to White public officials.

76% say police today do very little to stop guns and drugs from flooding Black communities.

74% say Black people are more likely than White people to be incarcerated because prisons want to make money on the backs of Black people today.

67% of Black Americans say businesses today target marketing of luxury products to Black people in order to put them into debt.

55% of Black adults say secret and nonconsensual medical experiments (like the Tuskegee study) are happening to Black people today.

55% of Black adults say the government today encourages single motherhood and the elimination of Black men from Black families. 

51% of Black adults say the government promotes birth control and abortion to reduce the size of the Black population, and this is happening today.

The report also finds that Black Americans who have experienced racial discrimination are more likely to believe U.S. institutions intentionally or negligently harm Black people.

There are also modest differences among Black Americans by gender, education, family income and political affiliation. Still, majorities across many Black demographic subgroups are familiar with these statements about the intentions of many U.S. institutions and say these things are happening to Black people today.