Most Black Americans Believe The System Is Rigged Against Them, New Survey Reveals

Many Black adults believe that key systems in the United States are designed to hinder Black people’s progress, a Pew Research Center survey has found.

This sentiment was more common among those who had experienced racial discrimination.

Widespread Belief In Systemic Discrimination

The survey, conducted in September 2023, found that Black adults believe the prison (74%) and political systems (67%) are designed to hold them back.

For example, 3 in 4 of Black adults believed the prison system is intentionally structured to profit from incarcerating Black individuals.

Almost 2 in 3 Black adults also believe that the economic system is designed to hold them back. This belief was more common among college graduates, women, and younger people.

Even survey respondence who did not believe that the system is set up for their failure felt they must work harder than their peers to achieve success.

Conspiracies or evidence-based fears?

“There are anecdotal conversations among Black people about the system, the Man, the invisible hand, the agenda that is set out to create a situation where Black people can’t advance,” study author Kiana Cox told AP News. “So, we wanted to explore that.”

The report defines “racial conspiracy theories” as the suspicions that Black adults might have about the actions of US institutions that aren’t necessarily their stated goals.

While conspiratorial beliefs are often associated with paranoia and mental health issues, the Pew researchers note that Black Americans’ beliefs are not unfounded, given the historical context of systemic racism in the US.

Examples include the surveillance of Black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and the Tulsa massacre of 1921.

Nearly 90% of Black adults consider themselves informed about US Black history, and this awareness influences their perceptions of current institutional practices.

“When you have a history of American institutions actually conspiring against Black people, it’s not so hard to believe that anything else would also be true,” Tasha Philpot, a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Austin, told AP News.

Lived experience of discrimination

In the survey, 3 in 4 Black adults said they had experienced discrimination.

Most (76%) of those who experienced discrimination felt anger, while 53% worried about their personal safety and 41% felt depressed. 

People who had experienced discrimination were also more likely to believe US insitutions were designed to hold them back.