Jody Starks — who’s sometimes called Joe Starks — is not white. Jody is a person of color. Jody and his wife, Janie, move to Eatonville. Eatonville is an all-Black city. If Jody was white, Eatonville wouldn’t be exclusively Black.

Jody became the mayor of Eatonville, and that position gave him power and influence over the other inhabitants. It’s almost as if Jody became their master. Of course, the people in the town aren’t actually Jody’s slaves. He’s not actually a slave owner. However, his way of life calls to mind the power dynamics and opulent lifestyles of white slavers and plantation owners.

Furthermore, Jody’s house is described as “the big house.” In the context of slavery, “the big house” refers to the plantation owner’s house. It’s where the master lives. The narrator goes on to describe the other parts of Eatonville as the “servants’ quarters.” The comparison reinforces the slave/master dynamic.

Jody does other things to separate himself from the rest of the townspeople. He smokes cigars and spits in a gold-colored vase. It could be argued that Jody does these things as way to communicate to other people that he feels that he's better than them.

In a more explicit connection between Jody, whiteness, and slavery, Jody imposed a town ditch in order to drain the street in front of his shop. After willing the ditch through, people “murmured hotly about slavery being over.”

Again, Jody Starks is not white. He does, however, appear to reflect the pretentiousness, entitlement, and greed that is often attributed to white slavers.