The Brown Bike Girl

02/04/2026

An easy access guide and playlist for the 28 Speeches to Watch in Black History Month has been posted for my Patreon community! Subscribe for as little as $1 a month, annual gifts, and early access and discounts to in-person and virtual special events.

Get more from The Brown Bike Girl on Patreon

02/02/2026

Happy 100 years of Black History Month. An observation started by Black academian and philosopher Carter G Woodson as a *gift* of positive self-knowledge to Black Americans. Who in 1926 had no public representation in the public media other than notices of criminality, victimhood, and various objectifying slander published to justify racial divide.

Still 100 years later we fight to be acknowledged for brilliant intentional contributions to America, and inclusion of Black and evidence of America's de jure and de facto race-motivated policy is contested as unnecessary or evil. It's not reaching Black youth allowing them to know their true heritage and potential. And the Black History stories and figures that are most publicized are revised, sanitized, or are of the genre that may help you win a trivia night but won't directly arm you for a spiritual, social, or political revolution.

Following the MLK Day post about consuming meaningful, truly representative speeches from MLK Jr, I am happy to share 28 speeches from Black American artists, philosophers, and political figures you should consume over the course of the month.

Thank you for sharing this collection.

01/19/2026

The white American mainstream has championed "I Have A Dream" because it features that single quote that feels flattering and obsolvant of tolerating a supremacist culture of open legal and moral crimes. The quote, exalted above all in a lifetime of political thinking, that seemingly conveys that ultimate desire of the people they've oppressed without reparation, act indifferently toward, and habitually underreact on behalf of, is to still be accepted them. A sentiment that is of and instills a sense of unspoken superiority.

MLK Jr. died classified as an enemy of the state. The same government that surveilled him and worked to undermine his movements about economic equality, unjust wars, and the disproportionate loss of life to Black Americans has not acted without strategy in the over-promotion an indictment and request-free reduction of this man's political revelations into a dopamine producing soundbite about "little Black children" and "little white children" on a playground.

Today, as I implore you almost every year, please observe the holiday by broadening your knowledge of the still persisting social crises MLK Jr was trying to draw people to resolve 60 years and (key) what he said to do about them. 1963 "I Have Dream" Martin who believed integration meant authentic access was not 1968 "I fear I may have integrated my people into a burning house" Martin.

-- Courtney

---
Screenshots from article by Scott Neuman for affiliate . Originally published 2024, republished 1/16/26

Recommended speeches:
- Give Us the Ballot
- Our God is Marching On
- Beyond Vietnam
- The Three Evils of Society
- I've Seen the Mountaintop!

Go to the article for easily accessible Youtube links.
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/01/16/5-mlk-speeches-you-should-know-spoiler-i-have-a-dream-isnt-on-the-list

11/17/2025

We cyclists shouldn't have to be so overly strategic in effort to stay alive and uninjured amongst auto traffic. But we do what, educate ourselves, and educate others to achieve the objective of not becoming an unfortunate statistic.

Shout out to ***r for taking the principles of safe cycling that I had the pleasure to share with the .river Ghost Bike Fellows and turning them into engaging pillows at the exhibition:

COMMUNICATE- Use hand signals. Use your voice. Don't let traffic be a guessing game.

PREDICTABILITY- Default to the right side of traffic OR use designated lanes when present. Dont bob and weave without reason.

VISIBILITY - Dress to be seen. Use lights. Don't ride in blindspots.

&

Shout out to the Day 1 and *true* who embrace and practice & promote safety practices and input and lobby for street redesigns as neighbors protected neighbors. Not for dollars or stepping stones. Not pictured but also at the event, Kevin Daloia and Steve Scoffield.

10/27/2025

Kudos to the .river Ghost Bike Fellows and their lead ***r on their completed projects and presentations. is happy to have contributed to fellows' education and promotion. It was obviously time well invested!

Since spring they've been working on educating themselves in the Safe Streets movement & traffic realities, cultivating perspective, and turning their impressions into 4 physical manifestations that are intended to help others in and outside of out bike world recognize the gravity of traffic violence, loss, and process their grief. They even helped install some of the backlogged ghost bikes this year.

See their succinct intros to their creations here and look for them in the wild around Brooklyn.

09/12/2025

Maybe...just maybe if you studied some philosophers that were from oppressed and exterminated societies, you would know how to identify and put ten toes down against intolerance.

08/19/2025

Archivist Dominique Lester at TEDx Pittsburgh 2018 emphasizes that folks of marginalized identities need to engage in creating personal and community archives -

THAT is why we will gonfrom unlandmarked sites in life to a skillshare discussion about making our own collections!

RSVP in bio ASAP for full deets & meetup location.

08/16/2025

LINK IN BIO ● RSVP NOW

We're visiting sites in Marsha's life (beyond Stonewall!) and settling down to talk how we will preserve trans q***r and POC history going forward -- Starting with learning what we can take and organize from our own lives with guidance from experienced publishers and archivists including !

Free classic CitiBikes available with RSVP.

08/08/2025

Mother Marsha's 80th birthday is approaching! Let's go!!!
---
We won't forget her.
And they might try to remove the Black and brown people, and the LGBTQ people from history one letter and exec order at a time, but we won't be forgetten!

Queer,Trans, and all POC people are especially welcomed to attend this ride to sites in Marsha's NYC life followed by skillshare with archivist to discuss how we can save our history, starting with the note and memories in or own lives!
---
RSVP reqd for location and to request Citi Bike details.

07/02/2025

ALL. OF. US.
Not just the immigrants w criminal records.
Not just immigrants.
Anyone morally unacceptable.
Anyone who dissents.

People who have more generations in this land, more sweat blood and tears, and much cleaner records than those voting to repeal rights.

06/30/2025

On Juneteenth 2025 and cyclists seeking a purpose-filled holiday observation traveled from Shirley Chisholm's Bedstuy to the Shirley Chisholm at 100 exhibit at .

Not only was Ms. Chisholm the first woman to run for President in '72 after first being an assembly woman then Congresswoman. She had a hand in almost every major modern policy that effects daily quality of life! She turned an appointment to an agricultural committee that was meant to stump her into WIC that provides food for women with children! She spoke for lowering the voting age to 18 so that people who were being sent to Vietnam War had an influence in their fate. And she established a scholarship and resource assistance program that lives til this day in CUNY schools.

She didnt want to be summarized by one accomplishment but make sure the ISSUES (that so closely mirror our current day struggles) were known.

Thank you, Ms. Shirley, the fighter!

06/24/2025

Dont just carry on. Make em miserable. Speak against. Vote against. Or they they will harm you and say you liked it.