Many people are unaware that the intentional killing of enslaved Blacks in the United States during slavery, and even later, by white people with no repercussions is based on laws passed by white lawmakers who also happened to be plantation owners.
—The Casual Killing Act of 1669, for example, deemed it acceptable to murder a slave while correcting because malice could not be assumed. According to the “casual killing of slaves,” if a slave dies while opposing his master, the crime is not assumed to have been committed with “premeditated malice.”
—The men of the Virginia General Assembly abolished the penalties for those who accidentally killed a slave in the process of punishment since the Black laborer was considered ‘property.’
—Other slave laws passed in Virginia demonstrated the disregard for human life, as well as the distinction between chattel slavery in the United States and other forms of slavery prevalent on the continent of Africa.
—It was authorized in 1672 to injure or kill an enslaved person who resisted capture. Legislators further stipulate that the owner of any slave slain in the course of resisting arrest shall be compensated financially for the death of an enslaved worker. Indians who capture escaped slaves and return them to a justice of the peace are also rewarded by legislators.
—Earlier in 1639/40, the Virginia General Assembly specifically exempted Blacks from the obligation of owning guns, and later in 1662, Blacks faced the prospect of life servitude. The Virginia General Assembly declared that any child born to an enslaved mother would be a slave as well.
