Most Black adults say the prison (74%), political (67%) and economic (65%) systems in the U.S., among others, are designed to hold Black people back, according to a new Pew Research Center survey in September 2023. For example, 82% of Black adults say they have heard the following racial conspiracy theory about the prison system: Black people are more likely than White people to be incarcerated because prisons want to make money on the backs of Black people. Many Black adults (74%) say this racial conspiracy theory is true and happening in the U.S. today. For this report, we surveyed...
