Regardless of what you think about the killing of Trayvon Martin, it's certain that if this self-appointed Dudley Doright had not been patrolling his gated community, armed, that Trayvon (who was armed with nothing but some Skittles and iced tea) would still be alive.
I've been waiting for somebody to talk about the growth of gated communities, and here we go, from an Orlando journalist.
She makes some great points. You take a walled-off community of mostly whites, combined with America's car culture and very few pedestrians or sidewalks, Florida's "stand your ground" law and lots of handguns, stir in a little racism -- OK, phobia of young black men, whatever you want to call it -- and it's the perfect recipe for this type of deadly misunderstanding. Frankly I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. With an increase in gated communities and a shrinking and aging white population, I'm sure it will happen more often. Get ready.
By Bonita Burton
March 28, 2012 | CNN
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