Myrl Beam: The Long Fire: Sexual Policing, Settler Colonialism, and the Minneapolis Uprising | Arcus/Places Prize Lecture
Free and open to the public
In this talk, Myrl Beam traces the powerful and yet under-examined role that sexual policing and settler colonialism have on ideas about policing, safety, and the question of who “belongs” in public space — and to whom public space belongs.
Drawing on a community oral history project, “The Long Fire at Lake and Minnehaha,” Beam explores the ways that fears about houseless people, often Native, have been fomented as threats to the safety of women and how discourses about the safety of women have been used both historically and in the current moment to naturalize and grow police power.
This talk documents uneven but necessary work undertaken by Minneapolis activists in the years since the uprising in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020 to build a queer and trans abolitionist politics that understands the ways that sexual policing and settler colonialism work alongside anti-Black racism in propping up police power.
About the Arcus/Places Prize
Established in 2014 to support innovative public scholarship on the relationship between gender, sexuality, and the built environment, the Arcus/Places Prize is funded by the college’s Arcus Endowment, which was launched with a generous gift from the Arcus Foundation.
About the Speaker
Myrl Beam is associate professor and chair of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at Macalester College. Author of the book Gay Inc.: The Nonprofitization of Queer Politics, Beam is an oral historian and scholar of queer and trans movements for justice.
Accessibility
The auditorium is wheelchair accessible. If you require accommodations to fully participate in this event, please contact Sam Dreyer at least 10 days prior to the event.