The System of Whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps”: Part I

In a recent post, I looked at the illusion of whiteness in the opening scene of Atlanta’s “Three Slaps.” I delved into how the white character on the lake talks about the inaccessibility and accessibility of whiteness, and discussed Michael Collins’ feelings of comfort in the illusion of his closeness to whiteness in Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan’s Deathlok. Today, I want to continue looking at “Three Slaps,” specifically at the ways that the episode interrogates how whiteness works as a power structure, a protective structure, and a debilitating structure that harms everyone.

Multiple moments throughout the episode show whiteness at work, and I’m not going to focus on all of these. Instead, I want to focus on three to four moments in the episode where we see whiteness in action. Within this context, whiteness means more than just phenotype. It means a system constructed around race that benefits whites, specifically, while oppressing other individuals. However, whiteness also works as a system where individuals, no matter their phenotype, can access certain aspects of whiteness. In this manner, whiteness serves as a power structure that allows access to phenotypically white individuals and grants access to others who adhere to whiteness, through assimilation or adapting whiteness. This is Michael Collins in Deathlok.