New Layer: Black. Way to add this?

[Ofnuts]

If you start with a black layer, then black is your background color(*) because:

• without an alpha channel,  using the eraser paints with the background color
  
• if you extend a layer it will be filled with the backrground color
  
• if you create a text layer it takes the foreground color by default, if you leave black as the foreground, you won't see much.
  

And you can tell Gimp to start with FG/BG colors set to white & black instead of black & white... (just set them that way and click "Save options" in the preferences)

In fact what doesn't make sense is the "white" choice