"Virginia's 1669 Casual Killing Act made it legal to "accidentally" kill an enslaved person while correcting them. Slaveowners, sheriffs, slave patrols, and overseers were seldom punished for murdering a Black person, but now it was legitimized."
"There are thousands of documented cases across U.S. history where white perpetrators were never charged, all-white juries acquitted them, prosecutors refused to indict, or the state simply ignored the killing. Missing names include Harry T. Moore and Harriette Moore, whose home was bombed on Christmas Day, 1926."
"Derek Chauvin was well on his way to not being prosecuted until the brutal video of his knee on Floyd's neck was released. What that list and the one in this story make undeniable is that these were not isolated tragedies or unfortunate lapses in judgment by individual juries."
American legal systems have historically enabled violence against Black people through explicit laws and systemic impunity. Virginia's 1669 Casual Killing Act legalized the killing of enslaved people during punishment. After slavery ended in 1865, Black Codes and Jim Crow laws maintained this pattern of violence without accountability. Thousands of documented cases show white perpetrators escaping prosecution through non-indictment, acquittal by all-white juries, prosecutorial refusal, or state negligence. Notable victims include Harry T. Moore and Harriette Moore, whose 1926 bombing was linked to a sheriff never tried for their deaths. Even recent cases like George Floyd's required public video evidence to prompt prosecution. A memorial list on Chicago Avenue documents Black people killed by police and vigilantes, representing systemic failure rather than isolated incidents.
Read at LEVEL Man
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