Fantastic Negrito White Jesus Black Problems (CD)

(Storefront Records) 13 tracks, digisleeve

The new album and accompanying short film White Jesus Black Problems by US singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito, were inspired by research into his ancestors.

Specializing in blues, R&B and roots music, the musician discovered that his seventh-generation grandmother was a Scottish servant who entered into a marriage with an African-American slave, his seventh-generation grandfather, openly defying the racist laws of colonial Virginia in 1750.

Her love story is a salutary testament to the fact that love is the only weapon one can use to resist inhumane and brutal systems. In today's polarized society, her perseverance is a lesson in the virtues of constant struggle against ignorance, fear, and violence still present in contemporary embodiments of white supremacy, bigotry, and hatred.

It is important to tell the story of how those who suffered much greater indignities and violence than we do in modern times were still able to maintain their humanity through human connection and the will to love. If they were able to do it in 1759, we can do it in 2022.