The gated community phenomenon is part of the privatization mentality in America. Gated communities have their own police force, their own road crews, their own "government", and their own infrastructure. How much civic pride do the people living in the 10.9 million units feel? How much do they think their local taxes "buy"? And don't forget there are some communities that have less visible but equally forbidding "gates" to keep out the riffraff: communities with homes that cost $500,000 or more and exclusionary zoning that forbid low-income housing have gates that are harder to penetrate than those in Sanford, FLA. How much do people living in THOSE communities feel their State and federal taxes "buy"?

The Trayvon Martin case is more an indictment of really stupid behavior than of gated communities. Zimmerman was an idiot to do ANYTHING after calling the police. It is tragic that it has fed the beast of the race hustlers in our country, and the liberal media which gives them a stage.

I wonder if Mr. Jackson would have felt better if the guard had been black? Is it racism to have preferred a black guard? -------- I thought President Obama was going to get us past this skin color thing. We need to stop listening to the race baiters and those that would work us up for their own agendas.

Here in Yahooville (a.k.a. Florida), folks receive a steady dose of right-wing lunacy 24/7 on the radio. Television provides shows like "Cops" and "Criminal Minds" to feed the paranoia. The NRA has fostered the development of an America-as-Armed-Camp. And Rod Serling predicted the results decades ago.

Brilliant, and thanks. I just spent a week or so in Florida, splitting my time between a gated and a non-gated community. The former felt like a medieval fortress missing only a moat. My friend there said locals, most of whom moved down from the mid-west, fell all over each other trying to think of new security measures....and this in an area not known for crime in the first place. The other community, near an area where there is some crime, has several former police officers as community security guards. They are unarmed and damn angry about the fact that in Florida good law enforcement officers are being laid off, with whatever benefits are left now taxed -- and lots of untrained Zimmermans can shoot anyone they damn well please. Feels like Iraq to me, folks. Is this what our young men and women are dying for? Is this what we want our country to be? Festung Neighborhoods?

Great article and agree. I aslo strongy agree that racial profiling is happening and needs to stop. However, I'm very disappointed the way some of the press is handling zimmerman reporting. First we find out that NBC refuses to let Zimmermans brother on NBC! What about fair and balanced reporting? One of the NBC reporters went on CNN and publicly admitted it and was pround of it. He was later forced to give an apology. Now we find out NBC played an edited 911 to make it look like Zimmerman is a racist. "NBC's show ran the edited audio of Zimmerman's phone call to a police dispatcher, seeming to show Zimmerman saying, "This guy looks like he's up to no good … he looks black."A transcript of the complete 911 call shows that Zimmerman said, "This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about."The 911 officer responded saying, "OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?" "He looks black," Zimmerman said". Yesterday, NBC gave an apology for making Zimmerman look like a racist. The NYT writes that Zimmerman is a "White Latino", does that make Obama a "White African American"? Zimmerman could be the biggest white Latino racist for all I know and this could be a hate crime. I want the press to report the facts and stop looking for ratings. A boy was killed and the public needs to hear all the facts. Also, the stand by your ground law needs to be repealed.

"This is a classic example of how America's obsession with firearms"... had to get that in, didn't you. thank you for reminding me to buy another handgun today.

I agree it seems like Zimmerman was more stupid than racist. However, the gated communinity mentality may have influenced his paranoia. The media and much of the public want things to be simple but things happen for complex reasons. You have to wonder though, if he had killed a white kid would the police have let him go? Maybe but maybe not.

About 20 years ago I was visiting in-laws in Sacramento, CA. I was surprised by how many gated communities there were around there. I was not used to that. I am quite surprised to hear that 10% of the US is in gated communities now. I'll bet it's a lot less than that in New England. I kind of like it here.

Living in Florida is living in the middle of "gated community" heaven. Most have come down from the midwest retirign from GM, Ford, Chrysler. Go into hock to buy the house eventually they kick off and the wife has to sell. The sad part is most of them get their union pensions and their Social Security and then constantly complain about the unions and the govt. They cry about taxes though few pay any and then of course their is the need for security. Although here in the county we hardly have any. All that has happened is people have bought into the advertising and the marketing and so now they think it's true. I looked at the Villages here and if I wanted to be back in Boston that's where I'd go. Me I prefer my ungated house by the lake.

I agree with networkschools. It's not just that gated communities are growing across the US, but condominium/homeowner association neighborhoods as well. We're adding a whole layer of private government to take over the trash, the road care, the public landscaping, and what have you. About 50 million Americans live in some kind of branded, private neighborhood, answering to some condo or HOA board. Even when there is no gate and fence around the homes, it leads to a very us vs. them mentality and I mean that in the general sense, not necessarily a white vs. black one. (I'm white, if that matters.) *New paragraph* All that said, to Mr. Jackson I would say that I'm still rather agnostic to believing this shooting some major indicator of a society gone wrong. I think the media has really whipped up a frenzy on this with a lot of initial, highly, highly slanted reporting....calling Zimmerman a "white Latino" (as another commenter says above, is that like Obama being a white African American?) Then there's the grotesquely mis-edited Zimmerman 911 call, making it look like Zimmerman is making a point of Trayvon's blackness. Various witnesses have Trayvon doing the actual, physical attacking. I work with at-risk teens and I want to give Trayvon the benefit of the doubt, but this story isn't one about a mean, white racist gunning down a poor black child as it appears to be on first glance. That said, again, you're spot on about the gated community phenomenon.

America is caught up in the boogyman era again. In the 1950's it was McCarthy who cause America to fear and demonize her own citizen. Alot of good folks were hurt by McCarthy, and here we are in 2012. With the same old fear which brings about hate, and destruction. Sometimes I wish we all were like Kermit D.Frog, green. but I guess we'd find something else to hate about one another, I guess thats why its called human nature. hmmmmmmmm