Janaya Future Khan finds strength through organizing in the Black Lives Matter movement—and boxing

I used to think activism and organizing was something so specific. There’s this idea that you have to be noble or special to do this work. I definitely didn’t set out to become an activist.

One day in 2010, I walked into a boxing club with no additional thoughts about what it could imply or mean. It was full of queer and trans people, and women who were domestic-violence survivors. I had never been in a community like