Pure black #000 doesn't exist. Nothing is ever pure black. I rarely use it in my designs if ever.

The pure black to me creates a very harsh contrast rather than pleasant contrast. You can easily achieve high contrast with out it being so harsh.

That being said the black letters are not the worst part of this visual, the strange choice of grey is worse.

There is an excellent article on the subject of why you shouldn't use pure black here: http://ianstormtaylor.com/design-tip-never-use-black/