Grace Victoria is a Virginia-born and New York City-based singer-songwriter. Who recently released the album, Love & Justice. The album heavily deals with themes connected to the Black American experience.
The album features Black empowerment and fight tunes such as “Black Looks Better On Me,” “No” and “Let Me Tell You.” It also includes the samba-influenced tune “Down in Virginia.” The song is impacted by her own experience growing up in the South. Composed around the time of the George Floyd murder, the tune is an exploration of the racism and violence faced by Black people on a constant basis.
The lyrics include not only an indictment of blatant racism but liberal complacency: “The people in the country can get pretty mean. A crazy woman called me n*gger made me wanna scream. But my anger never brought me a single thing, down in Virginia, baby. When I was older I took a trip to the North. You’ll never guess what I found: The liberals are under the impression that racism is no longer around.”
Grace Victoria sheds a needed spotlight on the fact that silence is violence. If we are not speaking out against racism, then we are part of the problem.