Justice
The Threat of Gated Communities
The neighborhood where Trayvon Martin died is the kind of place where people choose to live when they want to be safe – from crime, from outsiders, from economic uncertainty. Of course, it doesn’t always work that way.
Editors Note: This piece originally ran in April 2012. We are re-posting it now in light of the court verdict finding George Zimmerman not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin.
The shooting death of Trayvon Martin has caused an epidemic of soul-searching in the United States. In the weeks since George Zimmerman pulled the trigger in that Florida gated community, it feels as though the entire nation has been busy trying to explain to ourselves what happened and why. We want desperately to find some sort of lesson. Maybe we’re looking for redemption.