Pew Research Center revises report about ‘racial conspiracy theories’ after backlash

The Pew Research Center has revised a report after it received criticism for saying a majority of Black Americans believe “racial conspiracy theories” about U.S. institutions. 

In the report released June 10 titled “Most Black Americans Believe Racial Conspiracy Theories About U.S. Institutions,” Pew detailed “the suspicions that Black adults might have about the actions of U.S. institutions based on their personal and collective historical experiences with racial discrimination.” Survey respondents highlighted issues such as discrimination in the medical field, incarceration, and guns and drugs in Black communities. 

The report’s initial title prompted swift backlash from critics who said “racial conspiracy theories” implied that Black Americans’ distrust of U.S. institutions is irrational and without historical context. The report made brief mention of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, a medical scandal that fueled distrust in medical institutions. 

JustLeadershipUSA, a social justice organization, was one of the most vocal critics of the  report, calling it “shockingly offensive” for labeling Black Americans’ distrust over well-substantiated discrimination as conspiracy theories.

Two days later, Pew officials marked the report as being under revision and acknowledged that using the phrase “racial conspiracy theories” was not the best choice. 

“The comments were so thoughtful,” Neha Sahgal, vice president of research at Pew Research Center, said of the criticism. Sahgal said leaders at Pew “paid attention to what people were trying to tell us.”

“Upon reflection, we felt that this editorial shorthand detracted from the findings of this report, which we maintain are hugely important at this time in our country,” Sahgal said. “We have since revised the report. We have taken accountability for using a shorthand that was inappropriate.”

Pew released the revised report Saturday with a new title: “Most Black Americans Believe U.S. Institutions Were Designed To Hold Black People Back.” The updated report includes a new headline, additional context and direct quotes from respondents.

“This is very important and an excellent update to correct those errors in the original version,” DeAnna Hoskins, president of JustLeadershipUSA, said. “But why didn’t you do that from the beginning?”

Before Pew’s acknowledgement and revisions, one person wrote in a post on X: “This new Pew report on Black belief in ‘conspiracy theories’ is interesting, but I take issue with the ‘CT’ label bc of how it lumps in well-substantiated truths alongside bunk like Q*Anon and flat earth.”

There are well-documented episodes of discrimination and targeting throughout the nation’s history, from the Tuskegee experiment to exclusion of Black Americans from New Deal programs and government targeting of civil rights and Black Power leaders under COINTELPRO.

“We have to ask: Why would the people at the Pew Research Center call the opinion of the vast majority of Black Americans—which is rooted in facts, history, and lived experience—a ‘conspiracy theory,’ when it is actually a reality?” Hoskins wrote in a statement on the organization’s website. 

In an interview with NBC News, Hoskins said  it was irresponsible of Pew to equate Black people’s concerns with conspiracy theories at such a politically turbulent time in the country.

“We’re talking about election fraud, we’re talking about QAnon — you were throwing us into that,” Hoskins said of Pew. 

The report states that most Black Americans believe U.S. institutions fall short “when it comes to treating Black people fairly.” More than 60% of Black Americans surveyed cited prison, political and economic systems as just some of the institutions intentionally 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,” the updated report states. “Several studies show that racial disparities in income, wealth, education, imprisonment and health outcomes persist to this day.”