GENOCIDE BY ATTRITION IN THE U.S. POST 1968: URBAN PLANNING- THE CONSCRIPTED TOOL TO DISCHARGE AND INTEGRAL TO RECONCILATION

Abstract

**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 02/01/2026** This research examines the life conditions of African Descendants of American Slavery (ADAS) in the U.S. and posits that the State (U.S. government) has and continues to commit the act of genocide against the group. The genocide paradigm is often dominated by time-intense direct violence enacted with explicitly declared intent (e.g., Holocaust, Rwanda etc.) (Wakeham, 2021). I argue that the case of U.S. genocide against ADAS is indicative of genocide by attrition, a slow process of annihilation that reflects the unfolding phenomenon of the mass killing of a protected group rather than the immediate unleashing of violent death. The posited case reflects a spatial dimension (ADAS ghettoes) whereby the conditions function parallel with extermination and internment camps as the locales whereby the harshest discharge of genocidal acts occur. Urban planning has been utilized as a very effective and instrumental spatial tool and practice to execute the acts of genocide and continues to be complicit in the act. This instrumental case study of the U.S. theorizes genocide at all three levels (i.e., macro, meso, and micro), utilizing a universally accepted tool, United Nations’ Framework for Atrocity Crimes, to evidence the presence of the phenomenon. Finally, this research concludes with preliminary recommendations for a new progressive urban planning framework to advance spatial reconciliation.