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What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About
Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos
Are you enabling social injustice without knowing it?

June 29, 2019 by J Mase III Leave a Comment

—
Are you enabling social injustice without knowing it? J Mase III discusses steps to effect real
change for social justice—steps that can save lives. J Mase III is a Black/trans/queer poet & educator
based in Seattle by way of Philly. As an educator, Mase has worked with community members in
the US, UK, and Canada on the needs of LGBTQIA folks in spaces such as K-12 schools, universities,
faith communities and restricted care facilities.He is founder of awQward, the �rst trans and
queer people of color talent agency.

His work has been featured on MSNBC, Essence Live, Everyday Feminism, Black Girl
Dangerous, the New York Times, Buzzfeed, the Root, theGrio, the Huf�ngton Post and more.
—

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 2/36

What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About IslamophobiaWhat Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia……

—

Transcript provided by YouTube:
 

00:08
[Music]
00:11
so imagine you’re going into a store and
00:14
when you’re going into the store you see
00:16
a store clerk and a security guard and
00:18
when you see them one of them doesn’t
00:21
matter which but one of them says hello
00:23
to you and when they say hello to you it
00:25
comes out sort of like this like hey
00:27
hello is that someone generally trying
00:31
to seem friendly yes yeah
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 3/36

some of y’all a little skeptical I like
00:36
that you better forget let’s say you go
00:39
into the story different day and so on
00:41
this day again you go in you see a store
00:44
clerk and a security guard and one of
00:46
them says hello to you only this time
00:48
when they say hello it comes out sort of
00:49
like this hello is that someone trying
00:55
to seem friendly no right so what I’m
00:58
hoping we can get from this exercise is
01:00
that simple polite gestures like Hello
01:02
don’t always equal friendly can we agree
01:04
on that and we’ve all been in a moment
01:07
or experience in which what someone said
01:09
was different than what was being
01:11
communicated does that make sense to
01:12
everyone so when I think about myself as
01:15
a trans person I’ve been out and as an
01:17
adult longer than I’ve been in the
01:19
closet right I also spent a lot of my
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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time talking about identity and talking
01:23
about trans miss and I usually express
01:27
myself in a way that’s outside typical
01:28
gender norms so people are generally
01:30
rarely surprised to hear me say that I’m
01:33
trans even if they don’t quite have the
01:34
language for it does that make sense and
01:36
so that’s not surprising but what does
01:40
become surprising for folks is when I
01:42
say that I grew up in a multi-faith
01:43
household in particular that I have a
01:46
father who was raised Muslim and a
01:48
mother who was raised Christian now when
01:50
I say that people who perceive
01:52
themselves as being in solidarity with
01:54
the part of me that is trans immediately
01:56
want to focus in on my father and they
01:59
weren’t enough well what did your father
02:01
think about you coming out and when
02:04
folks asked me this question a few
02:05 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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things kind of come up so one it’s clear
02:08
that they don’t think it’s important to
02:09
unpack the relationship I had with my
02:11
non-muslim parent so I noticed that I
02:14
noticed the places in which they want me
02:16
to accept or reject whatever notions
02:19
they have about who Muslim people are
02:22
here the places where they’re not
02:23
actually concerned about the real
02:24
relationship I had with my father
02:25
they’re not concerned about the standing
02:29
breakfast date we had every Saturday
02:30
morning and we would spend 30 days
02:32
arguing about who got to pay he got to
02:34
pay that day that’s why he looks so
02:35
happy they’re not concerned about the
02:38
fact that he was my best friend and the
02:40
person I spent the most time talking
02:42
about my faith and spiritual journey
02:43
with they don’t care about the old chain
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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of his that I wear around my neck with
02:48
his name on it nah
02:49
they want to hear a critique how do I
02:51
know they want to hear a critique
02:53
because when I follow up their question
02:55
with wonderful stories about the
02:57
relationship between my father and I
02:58
after coming out they are always in
03:01
shock but when they’re asking this
03:04
question they’re very polite about it so
03:06
should I accept the Islamophobia
03:08
projected onto my family and my family
03:10
dynamics simply because the asker is
03:12
polite about it so just based off the
03:16
title I know for some of y’all you might
03:18
have been expecting that this was going
03:19
to be a coming-out story well surprise
03:21
I’ve been out for a long time and so I’m
03:24
not invested in dissecting that part of
03:26
my journey with you what I do want to
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 7/36

talk about is the behavior of others
03:30
when we live in our truth as trans
03:31
people as people of color and folks from
03:33
other targeted communities I really want
03:36
to talk about politeness and in
03:37
particular I want to talk about the
03:40
untrustworthiness of polite people all
03:42
right y’all ready for that talk y’all
03:45
ready for that cuz we going to get into
03:46
it all right and so when we think about
03:50
politeness right according to the
03:53
magical tool that is dictionary.com
03:55
politeness is de�ned as having or
03:57
showing behaviors that are respectful
03:59
and/or considerate of other people
04:01
having or showing behaviors that are
04:03
respectful and/or considerate of other
04:06
people now when people hear me talk
04:08
about my family’s upbringing and
04:10
speci�cally the religious background if
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 8/36

we’re getting to that place in the story
04:14
there’s a 99.9% chance that they already
04:16
know my father has passed and so that
04:19
they know that they’re potentially
04:20
bringing up a negative experience with a
04:22
person I love who has died right and so
04:25
if you could imagine for a second that
04:26
you have a dying family member and
04:28
before consoling you someone said oh my
04:31
goodness that’s so sad but like did they
04:32
ever kill anyone or you
04:35
ded great my totally go like did she
04:38
ever take a puppy once we would think
04:42
that question is absurd right and
04:44
insensitive right and I thought you
04:46
can’t talk about puppies without having
04:47
a puppy on screen so I decided to put
04:49
that that’s my actual puppy who’s never
04:50
been kicked anywhere but we would think
04:54
that question is absurd right so when
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 9/36

someone is asking this question that
04:58
they are projecting some negative pieces
04:59
onto my family are they necessarily
05:02
being respectful and considerate of me
05:04
right are they being respectful and/or
05:08
considerate of my grief no they’re
05:11
generally being respectful and/or
05:13
considerate of experiences and stories
05:16
that they’ve been told about who trans
05:17
people and Muslim people are and whether
05:19
or not they can be the same thing or
05:21
coexist together they’re generally being
05:23
respectful and/or considerate of a
05:26
system that the humanizes Muslim people
05:28
every day and perpetuates Islamophobia
05:30
does that make sense for y’all does that
05:32
make sense and I’m not totally psychic
05:35
but I’m sensing that not everyone is
05:37
quite there with me on the politeness
05:38
piece yet especially if you do not come
05:40 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 10/36

from targeted communities that get
05:42
interrogated at the same level that
05:44
people like myself and other folks often
05:46
are every day about who we are and our
05:48
experiences it might be hard to measure
05:50
the harm that is caused from that kind
05:52
of framework so I’m gonna give you all
05:53
better story right more clear story
05:55
y’all ready for that okay some we’re
05:58
gonna travel back in time to a few years
06:00
ago so a few years ago I was
06:02
volunteering at a summer camp this
06:04
summer camp was seventy percent white
06:07
and it was happening on a college campus
06:09
okay and so one day in particular
06:11
there’s an event happening outside or
06:15
inside of a building on campus and
06:17
myself and three other black folks were
06:20
standing outside of the building having
06:21
a conversation about some things that
06:23 Shares202

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came up in the day and so everybody else
06:25
is inside and so within 10 to 12 minutes
06:27
of us being outside three white police
06:31
of�cers rushed up toward us with their
06:33
hands on their weapons okay not yet
06:36
drawn but making sure that we’re clear
06:37
that they have them okay and so when the
06:40
police of�cers that I’m perceiving to
06:42
be in charge is looking at us and is
06:44
about 40s or 50s and says we’ve got a
06:47
noise complaint it was hard to �nd
06:50
right and so this presents a cognitive
06:54
dissonance right so how can it be that
06:57
we are both so loud that we require
07:00
police intervention yet so quiet that
07:03
it’s hard to �nd us okay is anyone here
07:06
anxious giggler anyone anxious giggle
07:09
raise your hand really anxious giggler
07:10
right that’s something that I do is that
07:13
a the greatest response to stress
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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no is it a human response to stress yeah
07:19
yeah so in this moment lots of things
07:21
are bubbling up for me especially as I’m
07:23
seeing this juxtaposition of us as four
07:25
black folks standing outside in
07:27
proximity to these white police of�cers
07:29
that are cornering us simply because of
07:31
a perceived noise complaint or noise
07:33
violation and so as I’m getting more
07:36
anxious the �rst thing I can think to
07:37
say out of my mouth is well of course
07:39
you got a noise complaint there’s four
07:41
black people standing outside and so the
07:45
police of�cer in that moment he doesn’t
07:48
just get angry he becomes anger right
07:52
he becomes anger and so as he’s shouting
07:56
and things are getting really real my
07:59
spirit is kind of �oating above my body
08:00
and I’m imagining all the different
08:03
things and scenarios that can happen in
08:05 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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this moment and as that is happening my
08:10
friend who is a Virgo and thinks a lot
08:12
more about what she says before she says
08:14
it starts to be escalating the situation
08:18
which is something she shouldn’t have to
08:21
know how to do but she does it very well
08:24
in that situation and so eventually the
08:27
police of�cers leave and we go back
08:30
inside and now we are tasked with
08:32
explaining to a mostly white group of
08:33
people what just happened to us and so
08:36
as we’re talking to people a lot of
08:38
people start crying and hugging us and
08:41
telling us oh my goodness I can’t
08:42
believe that happened to you I’m so
08:44
sorry that happened to you
08:45
which is another paradox right because
08:48
here we were in this moment and where we
08:51
allowed to cry no the littlest bit of
08:55
anxiety that I showed got rained in
08:56 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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really quick by the police and so camp
09:00
ends a few months later it’s
09:03
time to play for the next camp and so at
09:06
the time the executive director is being
09:08
very evasive about where the next camp
09:10
is gonna be then he gets to this kind of
09:12
a critical mass point where you kind of
09:14
got to know where things are happening
09:16
or can’t can’t happen and so eventually
09:19
the executive director reveals well
09:21
actually we’re gonna have camp this same
09:22
exact place we had it last year so me in
09:24
the place that we just got held up right
09:27
and so why was that so the executive
09:30
director who was white called up the
09:33
police departments as well as the campus
09:35
staff and said well you know everyone
09:38
apologized which is inaccurate because
09:40
they did not apologize to the people
09:42
that actually experienced the trauma
09:43 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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digs they apologized to a leadership
09:44
team and you know they were very polite
09:47
and they were nice and the campus even
09:49
gave us a discount to return gave us a
09:52
discount to return right so when those
09:55
of us that experience that pro�ling
09:56
incident push back we were told that we
09:59
were being irrational we were being
10:01
divisive we were being mean right and as
10:05
a result of the fallout of that none of
10:07
us that actually experienced that racial
10:09
pro�ling incident are part of that
10:11
organization anymore right so what was
10:13
the function of politeness in that
10:15
moment politeness served three major
10:18
functions one it allowed the leadership
10:21
team to keep their business contacts
10:23
happy right because there was no
10:25
consequences for anyone right – it
10:30
became a �nancial endeavor right and
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there was a �nancial bene�t they
10:34
actually traded our racial pro�ling
10:36
incident in for a discount right thirdly
10:40
whether intentional or unintentional it
10:42
served to weed out parts of community
10:45
that were targeted communities as part
10:47
of that organization does that make
10:48
sense and that’s something that many
10:52
organizations deal with that they’re
10:54
always wondering oh my goodness why is
10:56
there such a high overturn of this XYZ
10:59
population as part of the organization
11:01
well what stuff happened that showed
11:03
people they were unsafe was the
11:05
organization invested in politeness or
11:07
justice you’ll understand that so in
11:11
that moment if that is what politeness
11:14
looks like on the ground
11:17
what is the ask of justice so what does
11:19
the ask of justice so if we move closer
11:22 Shares202

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to justice and actually I want you to
11:24
raise your hand if you if you would
11:26
answer yes to the next question I’m
11:28
going to ask you have you ever had a
11:31
conversation in which someone kept doing
11:33
something that caused you harm but said
11:35
they were trying to help you have you
11:37
ever had a conversation in which someone
11:39
kept doing something that caused you
11:41
harm but said they were trying to help
11:42
you raise your hand if you experienced
11:43
that okay and so you want to hear
11:47
something that’s gonna make you feel
11:48
real queasy you want to hear something
11:51
you’ve been that person to somebody else
11:53
and too many somebody else’s especially
11:56
if your approach to justice is to focus
11:59
on the ways you can’t possibly be
12:01
invested in white supremacy that you
12:02
can’t possibly be transphobic that you
12:05 Shares202

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can’t possibly be Islamophobic or
12:07
xenophobic or ablest does that make
12:09
sense for you right so we have to own
12:12
our role in a framework that prioritizes
12:14
politeness over justice why because
12:16
there have been some goodies that you
12:18
have been getting in exchange for your
12:20
niceties there have been goodies that
12:22
you have been getting in strange for you
12:24
niceties and we must be honest with that
12:25
in order to move forward so that means
12:27
for white folks in the room what sort of
12:29
goodies do you get an exchange for your
12:32
politeness and niceties in the face of
12:34
trial Macon’s black and brown people is
12:35
it keeping a certain type of job is it
12:38
having a bank account that looks a
12:40
certain type of way is it getting the
12:42
promotion on time is it being seen as
12:44
the nice person who is friends with
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

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quote-unquote everybody right what are
12:49
the goodies you’re getting this is
12:50
gender folks
12:51
what sort of goodies do you get for
12:54
being polite and nice in the face of
12:56
trauma that happens to trans people
12:58
right so is it that you get to be quirky
13:01
but not as weird as these people over
13:03
here is it again that you get to laugh
13:05
at that joke without a conscience right
13:08
what are the goodies for non-muslim
13:10
people is it a false sense of safety
13:13
what are the goodies you’re getting does
13:15
that make sense so you must own your
13:17
role in politeness right next we must
13:21
accept that urgency is different for
13:23
everyone do you think my urgency when I
13:25
was dealing with the police was higher
13:26
love what was it it was high why
13:31
I thought my life was at risk merely for
13:33 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 20/36

being perceived as talking too loudly
13:35
outside of a building on a college
13:37
campus during the middle of the day in
13:39
the dead of summer right do you think
13:42
the urgency of someone who is houseless
13:44
is going to be higher or lower than
13:46
someone who has a well-paying
13:47
nine-to-�ve job and owns our own home
13:50
higher as a black person if I am part of
13:53
an organization with a 95% white
13:55
leadership team and my job becomes at
13:57
risk for bringing attention to the lack
13:59
of awareness of racism and white
14:01
supremacy at that organization is my
14:04
urgency going to be higher or lower than
14:06
a white colleague that never even
14:07
considered there was a racial justice
14:09
problem it’s going to be higher right so
14:12
accepting that the people that are nice
14:13
and polite you want to go to a barbecue
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 21/36

with on the weekend may not the people
14:17
be the people that you want to rely on
14:18
when your life is actually at risk next
14:22
we must defer leadership so what does
14:25
that look like and what does that mean
14:26
as nice and great as you are when you’re
14:28
a kid you’re learned let one plus one
14:30
equals two you learn that two plus two
14:32
equals four
14:33
you learned subtraction division
14:35
percentages decimals and at some point
14:37
you decided whether or not math was for
14:40
you right we never expect someone with a
14:43
kindergarten level understanding of math
14:44
to have the same conversation about math
14:46
as we do an astrophysicist
14:48
well we consistently expect in a system
14:50
of white supremacy for white folks to
14:52
have the same conversation about racial
14:53
inequity that black and brown folks do
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 22/36

it’s now possible we expect cisgender
14:58
men to have the same conversation about
15:00
gender inequity that we do intersex
15:02
folks trans and says women that we
15:04
expect trans men and non-binary folks to
15:06
have it’s not possible we expect in a
15:08
system as it is right now for folks that
15:11
have access to wealth and the same
15:13
conversation about economic injustice as
15:15
someone that can’t afford to pay their
15:16
rent and for a bottle of milk in the
15:18
same pay period it’s not possible that
15:21
makes sense for you so it must defer
15:23
leadership to people who are actually
15:24
experts on the devastation that is
15:26
happening on the ground next we must
15:28
redistribute resources we must
15:31
redistribute resources why because
15:32
politeness is a tool used to hoard
15:34
resources from targeted and vulnerable
15:36 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 23/36

communities politeness is a tool used to
15:39
hoard resources from targeted and
15:41
vulnerable communities and blame them
15:42
for their own oppression you all see
15:45
that works do you all see how that works
15:47
yes so when I’m talking about Reda
15:50
street or psa’s I’m talking about things
15:51
like land space credentials titles money
15:55
that scares people but you know what you
15:58
cannot smile white supremacy away your
16:01
dentist is not that good right you must
16:05
do actual work and be invested in
16:06
actually giving resources back to
16:08
communities that made those resources
16:10
possible and next how many of y’all by a
16:16
show of hands perceive yourself to be
16:18
someone who is invested in social
16:19
justice raise your hand if you see
16:21
yourself as someones invest in social
16:22
justice raise your hand high Ray J and I
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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 24/36

be proud of that be proud of it okay so
16:26
but I think about having the support of
16:28
sir so that is what I call my father not
16:30
because he made me but because that is
16:32
what I named him out of affection
16:34
because I loved this man when Sir was
16:39
born in 1943 in Virginia and his one of
16:43
his favorite moments was actually once
16:45
being a security guard from Malcolm X
16:46
back in the day and I know but he didn’t
16:49
know much about queerness or analyst
16:50
before I came out but you know what I
16:52
saw I saw him allow himself to be humble
16:55
enough to be transformed by my
16:57
experience as what was happening for me
16:58
on the ground and I often wondered what
17:00
would it take for people of power of
17:02
privilege of access to be transformed by
17:05
the experiences of those dealing with
17:06
systemic and systematic discrimination
17:08 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 25/36

on a large-scale basis every day right
17:11
so again for those y’all that said that
17:14
you had your hands up that you said you
17:15
were invested in social justice raise
17:16
your hands again raise your hands again
17:18
keep them high keep going high on this
17:20
day keep it you keep your hands up
17:22
GPIO say take him down if he ends up on
17:24
this day I dare you to be more invested
17:28
in social justice than you are in
17:30
politeness I dare you to be more
17:32
invested in justice than what’s in your
17:33
bank accounts I dare you to be more
17:36
invested in justice than your business
17:38
contacts I dare you to be more invested
17:41
in justice than your ego and being seen
17:43
as a nice person and more than all of
17:45
that I dare you to be de�antly
17:48
righteously and necessarily impolite in
17:51
the face of other people’s oppression or
17:53 Shares202

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 26/36

at least get out of the way for folks
17:56
that must be in order to survive
17:59
[Applause]
18:10
you

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

Filed Under: Featured Content, Gender & Sexuality
Tagged With: coming out, Islamophobia, LGBTQ, the editors, transphobia

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 27/36

About J Mase III
J Mase III is a Black/trans/queer poet & educator based in Seattle, by way of Philly. He is
the author of “If I Should Die Under the Knife, Tell my Kidney I was the Fiercest Poet

Around”, as well as And Then I Got Fired: One Transqueer’s Re�ections on Grief,
Unemployment, and Inappropriate Jokes about Death.

As an educator, J Mase has worked with thousands of community members in the US, the UK, and Canada
on the needs of LGBTQIA youth and adults in spaces such as K-12 schools, universities, faith communities,

and restricted care facilities among others.

He is the founder of awQward, the �rst ever trans and queer people of color speci�c talent agency.
Currently, he is co-editing The #BlackTransPrayerBook with awQward artist Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi.

As a performer, he has shared stages with world renowned artists like Chuck D and the Indigo Girls. His
work and musings have been featured on MSNBC, NBC OUT, Essence Live, Atlanta Black Star, GO

Magazine, Believe Out Loud, Everyday Feminism, Black Girl Dangerous, Upworthy, the New York Times,
Buzzfeed, the Root, the Huf�ngton Post and more.

Check him out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and of course at www.awQwardtalent.com!

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6/8/22, 1:28 AM What Coming Out as Trans Taught Me About Islamophobia | J Mase III | TEDxLosGatos – The Good Men Project

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-coming-out-as-trans-taught-me-about-islamophobia-j-mase-iii-tedxlosgatos/ 28/36

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