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.

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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

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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