Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses racial discrimination.

Abdul-Jabbar had lofty expectations of his new life in California. He imagined it would be similar to the glamorous depictions of California in the movies. However, a few weeks before his arrival, there was “major rioting” in reaction to police brutality in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Watts in LA. Abdul-Jabbar worried that other students at UCLA would see him as a representative of all Black people and perceive him as either an “information kiosk” or “target” (173).

On his first Sunday at his UCLA dorm, Abdul-Jabbar skipped Catholic mass and then never attended again. While he was unsure of what his exact beliefs were, he knew that he was not interested in Catholicism any longer.

Abdul-Jabbar surprised his teachers by not being a stereotypical jock, and he excelled academically. In his English Composition class, he wrote about his love of jazz and his memories of the jazz clubs in New York that he used to frequent. He was proud when his professor loved his essay and read it out to the class.

Abdul-Jabbar bonded with Jimmy Johnson, an upperclassman from South Central Los Angeles, over embracing Black pride and their interest in Black culture and history.