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Abdul Jabbar, Kareem. Becoming Kareem Growing Up on and Off the Court. Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group, 2007.

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Abdul Jabbar, Kareem. Becoming Kareem Growing Up on and Off the Court. Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group, 2007.

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Kareem knew he was different but didn't know in what way. Yes he was taller than all the kids in his class but that's wasn't it. He was being bullied by this girl named Cecilia and didn't understand why. She picked on him, fought him, punched him and chased him around. She knew he wouldn't touch her back and discovered his weakness. Yes this was an issue but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. But one day he had taken a class photo with everyone in his class and when the photo got to him he had noticed that he was the only black kid in his classroom. 1 out of 3 in his whole elementary school. No one had mentioned but he knew they all noticed. None of it mattered to him because he knew that if they did notice and picked on him for that reason he'd always have his best friend Johnny by his side. Johnny was white but that didn't matter, they where inseparable and no one messed with them.

"She straddled me and pressed the bat against my throat with a victorious smile." (pg.5)

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History of Kareem

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Kareem being taller than his whole 3rd grade class.

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Kareem being taller than his whole 3rd grade class.

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Before Kareem's all-star coaches that led him to many victories he had the most important coaches growing up, his parents. Kareem grew up with two very different styles of coaching from both of them. They both pride his education heavily and wanted him to succeed but it wasn't always that simple. From his dad Kareem learned how to be independent, but in a very harsh way. Kareem's father wasn't very verbally there, physically he was but he didn't seem to care about Kareem's questions, concerns and life in general. His father placed books in his hands instead of answering him. This did help Kareem find his passion for reading and writing but it tore down their relationship. Kareem grew distant from his father because they would go days without talking and he detached from him. Kareem was tired of feeling like he was a criminal to his cop father. On the other hand, there was his mom. His mom taught him how to budget and save money right to last him a while. She introduced him to movies, which he loved and took as a bonding moment between them. He developed a love for history from watching these movies, he was learning about the past but she was also shielding him from the present. His made him hold in his emotions and not be able to open up and express how he felt. Especially towards her.

"He didnt like to talk, as if each word he uttered cost him twenty hard-earned dollars." (pg.12)

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Kareem was transferred to an all boys boarding school which he thought would be the same just besides getting the luxury of going home he had to stay there. He thought the bullying would end up it just got worst. Every boy in that school was black which was a change for Kareem, he thought his people would understand him and he would be comfortable but that wasn't the case. He was bullied for not acting the way that the other black boys at his school did, they seen him as a white - washed boy. They beat him and tossed him around, despite his size they found his weakness. Kareem was envious towards his parents for sending him away and lost connection with them after being sent there. He didn't feel wanted and didn't have much of a positive expression once they picked him up. Not a lot of very good things came out of being sent away to this school but one thing did. Basketball. Kareem found his love for basketball here.

"To them I was an Oreo: a black kid who acted too white--black on the outside, white on the inside." (pg.25)

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Since Kareem's school started up again he was finally getting the coaching he deserved. Kareem was getting better every day and was able to find his 'superpower'. He loved playing basketball and was being recruited in the 7th grade. With his options he didn't know what high school he'd attend cause most coaches he encountered didn't quite understand the young mind. Until 8th grade when he met Coach Jack Donahue, he didn't know he would develop such a strong relationship with him but he did know that he liked this coach's vibe. He thought with this new coach and new lifestyle he can start off fresh free of anything dragging him on to be the best. Power Memorial was his choice, he enrolled there and was passing all his classes, made honor roll and started basketball. Since being in high school he felt a weight on his shoulder to act more mature and have to be mature despite his age, his size was all that mattered to people. Around this time is when the civil rights movement was in play. Kareem now understood why his mother was shielding him after experiencing it first hand. He was on jv under coach Dick until one morning when Coach Donahue surprised him with a jersey with the number 33 on it. He was playing up and now was on varsity full time.

"Through basketball, I found my superpower. My power wasn't being a great player but in loving something enough to work hard at being better." (pg.42)

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Even though Kareem was playing up now he didn't feel happy or achieved in that moment, he had his poker face like the one he kept every time he was on the court. Knowing the violence and racism going on outside of his protection at school it upset him but encouraged him to do better. Thinking about it all day caused a defect in his coach ability. His coach would call him out and push him to be the best he knew he could be. Only being 14 he thought back to the tragic story of Emmett Till, a 14 year boy that had been kidnapped, beaten and murdered, with the murders out in the world without charge. Kareem wasn't comfortable in his skin, he knew being now Till's age anything was a risk. At the end of his freshman year they only lost 6 games, not due to Kareem though. He was still getting offers left and right. His coach believed on team work and never being selfish with the ball. That put Kareem in an awkward position, playing wasn't as easy as it looks, he was lost he didn't know his place and was worried he would never find it. This issue followed him to Easter vacation where his parents sent him to North Carolina. The area he lived him was racist but not as bad as the South. He was scared his life would be put on the lie. He was discriminated but nothing happened.

"The racism being fought on the streets was both angering and inspiring." (pg.65)

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Rucker Park: The most famous playground in basketball - Where Kareem met Wilt and discovered the skills of basketball.

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The summer into Kareem's sophomore year of high school he looked forward to one thing. Every year there was a world famous rookie tournament, which showed Kareem the true art of basketball. Kareem’s seen the most outrageous skills and things to force the NBA to make the game entertaining. He saw how every player had their own personal skill and used it to their advantage in the team setting. During this year's rookie tournament he met Wilt Chamberlain, who was one of Kareem's biggest inspirations. He was really nervous to meet him but, from the encouragement of his friend he walked up to him and started up a conversation. Introducing himself to Wilt and to his surprise Wilt knew exactly who he was. Wilt complimented him and expressed to him that he wished he had the leg structure that created. Kareem was in awe that Wilt wanted something that he had. He couldn't believe it and enjoyed the rest of his summer  not knowing that Wilt would become such a great inspiration to him.

"I looked down at my legs and tried to see what he saw. But they just looked like broom handle legs, nothing special. "I wish I had legs like that," he said." "

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RUCKER PARK, Harlem (WABC) -- Did you know Harlem is home to the premier street basketball court on the planet?

Every summer, a world-famous tournament takes place at Rucker Park in Harlem, where the best basketball prospects and street ballers compete for playground primacy.

Elite hoops have been a staple at Rucker for decades, with more than 25 alums moving on to play in the NBA, including legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, "Dr. J" Julius Erving and Kobe Bryant.

"Madison Square Garden of the playground," is how Knicks legend and former Warriors coach Mark Jackson describes it.

The comparison doesn't come lightly for Jackson, who grew up in Brooklyn and played at MSG the first five years of his career. "You talk about the Garden being the Mecca, well, Rucker Park is the Mecca."

The first tournaments began under Holcombe Rucker, a teacher and playground director from Harlem, in the late 1940s.

Rucker's initial mission was to keep kids out of trouble by keeping them on the court. He would prioritize playing time based on who had the best grades, a manifestation of his philosophy: "Each one, teach one."

In the 1950s, the tournament founded in Rucker's name moved to its current location, the corner of 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and began to attract world-class talent. The rest is history.

"This is a man who has impacted not thousands; millions," Jackson says. "It really is black history, and to Holcombe Rucker, I truly say thank you, and salute."

Don't miss more incredible stories in honor of Black History Month.

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Rucker Park: The most famous playground in basketball

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Rucker Park is known around the world as the basketball court right off Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem.

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During Kareem sophomore year of high school his basketball team went undefeated. They took the city championship that hadn't been won by their school in many years. Even though Kareem loved basketball he didn't understand why he felt relieved that the season was over rather than happy that he had won. It seemed like everyone around him was thrilled with the fact that he was a leader, and treated him with respect. To Kareem winning wasn't even a thrill anymore due to his coach d. Coach D always promoted  working as a team but if  they were to lose, all the blame would be on Kareem, which wasn't fair at all. Since all this pressure on Kareem basketball wasn't fun to him anymore he felt pressured into becoming the best instead of having fun like he'd always had. Kareem felt as if he needed a coach of color to teach him the real history of Black Culture and take inspiration from a different source. He confided in brother Watson at Power. Brother Watson was a teacher, the only black teacher at that school and he thought they could bond over jazz bands. Kareem  brought in a jazz band and played it to Watson but Watson dismissed him and told him Jazz wasn't his thing. Since brother Watson was a drummer, Kareem  thought that this would make him a little more open-minded than he was. He stopped trying to find inspiration from Watson even though his other teachers would say things very racist. He started replying back and debating with his teachers which was also his inspiration into joining the debate team. From that point on Kareem would Express his feelings to teachers when things were wrongly or badly said about black people which made him the speaker for all black people to the white people around him.  The people who taught him at Power tried to change his thinking even though coach D was already taking control of what he was in with his body. You would try to confide in his parents but I said before they're very absent and the only way that his dad would show Pride was by buying copies of his championships and leaving them around the house.

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Information about Friendship Farm and Tip for Basketball

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Kareem's parents have signed him up for friendship Farm under coach d. It was 8 weeks and Kareem saw it more as hanging out with his friends rather than playing basketball. He already knew everything that coach would do and how coach was so it was really just a hangout to him. A lot of people have come to see and watch these intense matches. They would all scream Lew once he would do great things. There wasn't any wrongdoing in these games as everyone would have fun and was just there to play. In those 8 weeks  Kareem  was just swimming, playing basketball and going upstate. Even though friendship Farm wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing place to stay as they slept in a building that was built several several years ago it was still a fun experience for Kareem to be able to be with his friends let loose and play basketball with the people that he loved around him. Nothing was new to Kareem. It was sort of like a cycle for him. He knew that to do nothing wasn't very interesting or  difficult for him to do. He saw the extreme difference between playing street basketball and playing basketball at Friendship Farm. The rest of his summer vacation was boring as you would expect the days just dragging as he waited to get back into school.

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Now in Kareem's junior year of high school is when the I Have a Dream speech by Dr Martin Luther King Jr was an act. Kareem fell as if he had to look over his shoulder and double check everywhere that he went that someone wasn't out for him. Kareem was hurt about everything going on in the world and how everyone seemed to have something against black people. Kareem took that aggression and put it towards the court. He played harder  to prove that black people weren't what others were making them out to be. there were winning games left and right with no losses in their books. Kareem's parents handed the responsibility of scholarships over to Coach D as they felt that was a better fit of decision making than they were. Coach D had always told Kareem he could go anywhere he wanted no matter what school and wouldn't tell him what schools were recruiting him. Kareem put his trust in Coach D and continued to portray this strong, athletic, aggressive, passionate basketball player. This was his main focus as he wanted to play for a team that took  him into consideration rather than what he can do to benefit them.

" I played much more aggressively, showing everyone that this was one black person who wouldn't be pushed around. " (pg.97)

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They had a winning  streak, there were zero losses in their books until... They played against DeMartha Catholic High School, one of the top basketball schools in their country. They knew the game would be challenging but they still took it on feeling confident and maybe even a little bit cocky. The first half of the game was fine and by the time it was half time there was only up two,  their coach was severely mad and the bleachers were filled with murmurs, snickers and laughter. As they went into the locker room during halftime the coach said something to Kareem that he would never forget. He told the team that they didn't deserve to win, that they were a mess and  weren't doing anything to contribute to winning.  Knowing all that was going on in the world Kareem was very stressed and was just having a bad day. The coach had turned to Kareem and called him racial slurs for the way that he was playing. Kareem never felt more betrayed. He thought as if all the trust that they built and everything that they had been through was broken from that moment on. He hadn't said anything to the coach or anyone in that locker room the whole entire time. Everyone on the team felt sympathetic for Kareem and Kareem took that hate and had a flashback from when his old best friend Johnny also had said similar words to him which ruined their friendship many years back. Kareem went out there and proved coach D wrong . He scored many points and his team ended up winning. In the locker room everyone congratulated him and told him that he had played so well but Kareem couldn't get  what the coach said out of his mind. He barely responded to his teammates and everyone congratulated him. He felt so betrayed as his parents let the responsibility of picking his future College into Coach D's hands. coach D tried to justify calling him slurs by saying that he knew that it would make a difference in his playing.  Kareem didn't say anything to him and still felt that empty feeling in his stomach. He told his parents about the situation and they felt sympathetic for him but they knew that he had to finish his last season with Coach D as he was in control of Kareem's every decision. In his junior year they went undefeated winning the City Championship for the second year  in a row. Kareem still felt  as happy as he did last year but for four different reasons he thought the season would end in happiness and joy but it instead ended in sadness and anger.

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In this summer Kareem made it known that he was trying to get rid of being under Coach Donahue. he said that he wouldn't attend his friendship Farm program this year and wanted to  play street basketball, hang out with his friends, talk to girls and do everything he thought normal boys his age did. He applied to a  program designed to keep kids off the streets And was a journalist based  job, which paid him $35 a week. He was so excited and couldn't be more happy to learn about African American Heritage and get paid to help other people learn about it too. With basketball he knew everything about it, everything came easy to him and it was either you won or you lost there was no way in changing it. But with writing he felt as if he could express himself without judgment and whether he wrote something good or bad no one could take that from him. Once coach D found out he wouldn't be returning to Friendship farm he asked  Kareem to please come back. Kareem felt as if he owed something to Coach D even though he's the one who made coach D out of the coach as people thought he was. Kareem ended up agreeing and only stayed at friendship farm for 3 weeks to make Coach D happy; he knew that after that interaction everything would be done and he would be free from Coach D's teachings.

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Since the  Civil Rights Movement was still going on at this time Kareem had the opportunity of meeting Dr  king. Kareem would go outside and see the similarities between the Harlem of the Renaissance Era and the Harlem now. He found inspiration in Malcolm X's nation of Islam and loved how they did a no violence no aggression act. He had also been studying Islam for a long time now. He noticed how Malcolm X and Dr King's movement was seen as effective at the moment and didn't understand why they didn't fight back with the people who were accusing them wrongly. He had seen his culture and heritage all around him not knowing it until it was forcefully brang to his attention. Besides his feelings and everything going on in the outside world Kareem was still dreaming big about becoming a basketball sensation. He would go to the local black YMCA and  would work out there everyday. Once he went there and he saw Wilt Chamberlain, surprised Wilt had recognized him again. him and Wilt had conversations and Wilt helped train his muscles into making them bigger to help him get stronger and let his skills be more effective. Him and Wilt had  more of these interactions. When Kareem wasn't having these interactions with  Wilt Chamberlain he was working on his journalistic career. He was once invited to a report to be a broadcaster  with Dr King  about the program he had previously signed up for. He was very nervous in talking to him and asking for his opinion but once he did he was told that he knew the program would be successful and it would help many many black people get out of their comfort zone and get into better areas. Kareem knew that was right and he knew that the program was effective as he saw many people go through hardships and overcome them through it.

"You're going to need to pack on some meat if you want to bang with the big boys." (pg.122)

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As I said Kareem never understood why Malcolm X and Dr King never took an aggressive route in civil rights. But once he experienced it first hand he understood why. One Saturday there was a protest going on and as Kareem got off the stairs from the subway he felt like he was in a action movie. He tried his best to hide himself even though he was 6 foot 7 .He seen a bunch of people running, screaming, crying, fighting every noise around him made him even more scared. He started booking it to  the opposite direction after hearing people scream to go home and he was scared for his life. He didn't do anything, he didn't throw anything he knew that this will cause him both mentally and physically and mentally. He went back to his journaling club and expressed everything that happened to him. One of his friends Sammy that was there asked to quote him as he said that he felt like a dog running with his tail on fire. They reported what happened journalized in and to newspapers and many people around the city and internet had heard what had happened to him and what was going on in harlem. After that had been aired people started noticing that Harlem was in a state of destruction and Kareem argued that it has been in a state of destruction for the past 30 years and no one has done anything to help it, not the government nor the FBI no one. Karee  after that had attended the Friendship farm for 3 weeks and there he felt like a celebrity. Everyone was obsessed with him, everyone wanted to be around him and little kids as for his autograph and advice. During that time Kareem was also meeting new coaches, Dr King being one of them and for the first time could see who his people were, the history behind African Americans and learned his heritage.

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During the last week's of Kareem's summer he made sure to go to the rookie tournament. Wilt was there and invited him to the Harlem nightclub which he owned.  Wilt was playing and Kareem could see the unbothered expression on his face. Wilt refused to lose and was so passionate that you could see it on his face,  his body language, and every move he made. He was dunking left and right and scared other players away. Kareem complimented him and Wilt asked him to drop by  his house sometime so they could have a conversation. Kareem was flattered by this offer and a few days later he had dropped by to talk. Wilt's house was gorgeous, huge, everything you picture a famous basketball player's house to look like. He and Wilt had great conversations bonded over jazz and Kareem felt like for the first time he was having a coach that taught him right from wrong. He wanted someone as successful as Wilts that was also a person of color to do this for him. And for the rest of that summer he and Wilt hung out, went to dinner together, went horseback riding, listened to jazz and did everything fun to do. Kareem's Mother wasn't as supportive of him being friends with a grown man as he would have hoped. But Kareem knew he could be the only one to brag about hanging out with him and being friends with him and going to his house. He expressed  his mother's concerns to Wilt and he reassured him that he wasn't bothered by his presence but he should obey his mother. The summer ended and Kareem went back to his regular life with basketball and school and Wilt returned to the NBA.  Even though they went their separate ways during that time Kareem will never forget the impact that Wilt had on him. He would go on to visit Wilt and his wife throughout the years and is forever grateful for the first encounter.

"My mother warned me to be careful not to intrude." (pg.140)

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ESPN Classic - Kareem just kept on winning  Records of Kareem's scores during his 71-1 season

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Kareem describes his senior year as a roller coaster ride. He didn't have much of a social life, only hanging around his few friends and building a small group. Jazz had been the one thing in his life that was very consistent. It helped him express his emotions, find himself and lift him up when he was sad. His parents had loosened up a little bit since he was doing so well academically and athletically they didn't know about his colleagues and the parties, nightclubs that he had been to.  His basketball season that year was a breeze; they had won  71 games in a row and hadn't lost a game since freshman year. During this year they had to face DeMartha again, this gave Kareem a bad feeling. He had PTSD from the last time that they played them.  He noticed his teammates playing more aggressively after what had happened to him many years back, but this year DeMartha was ready for them there were two big men waiting for him. Something that most people didn't understand about being tall and playing basketball was there were also other tall people in the same exact position as you. These men would later be drafted onto some of the greatest NBA teams. Just made it even more difficult for Kareem to navigate the court as they are all much bigger in size than he was. They  had thicker skin than him and were very fast as well. The game was hard; they ended up losing by three points. That is how their streak ended; it was 71 to 1 and it took some relief off of the team's backs. But not off of Kareem's, Kareem was thinking about the last time that they played him and how many more points that he had scored then versus now and Coach D had noticed his mood and asked what the issue was. Of course Coach D made this into an argument and ended up lecturing the boys on taking a win or a loss as a team instead of individually. To everyone outside of the team coach he seemed liked superman. He was, to them but only Kareem knew how and what his true intentions were. He was only relieved he was going to be out from under Coach D soon.

"It was endurable only because I knew in a few months I'd be gone forever." (pg.153)

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ESPN Classic - Kareem just kept on winning

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won three straight New York City Catholic high school championships, three consecutive NCAA championships at UCLA, and six NBA titles.

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Since the coach told Kareem he could go anywhere in college Kareem had been brainstorming on which one to go to. Offers were flooding in on a daily basis but it wasn't just based on wanting to go on a professional basketball career. It was also based on his academics that he was very interested in. He always knew that playing a sport meant he could be injured so if that were to happen he would also need his backup degree and he also had a very strong passion for learning. He visited many colleges like University of Michigan, Columbia University, St June University, and North Carolina. He visited UCLA and  was having a hard time picking which school he wanted to go to. He had had a meeting with Coach Wooden, the basketball coach at UCLA and to his surprise Coach Wooden had brought up Kareem's grades. Kareem was really shocked because most coaches talked about his ability in helping the team and saying the things that would come with it and things like that. But Kareem never had a coach speak about how good his academics were and the work that he put in outside of the court. This stuck out to him and he knew when he flew home that UCLA is the place I wanted to go. His parents were very supportive of him and had a meeting with Mrs and Mr Alcinfor and the impression that they had on Kareem after him being on the campus. Kareem didn't attend this meeting but was in the same house as it was going on. He tried his best to listen in but didn't get much out of it. He was scared of moving away and starting a new life but he knew that California and college had a lot waiting for him.

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Since Kareem was now living in LA and was a well-known athlete he met a ton of famous people. But one person that stuck out to him the most was Muhammad Ali, he had looked up to Muhammad all his life. Him and his friends after meeting him would talk about how cool meeting him was but they didn't understand how life-changing that experience was for Kareem.  Muhammad Ali was one person who had changed their name. And this was very inspiring to Kareem, see this whole time I've been calling him Kareem but during this whole journey and his whole time growing up his name was Lewis.  Muhammad Ali had found himself, and studied Islam which inspired him to convert, change his name and become Muslim. What stuck out to him the most was that he didn't Americanize anything that he did. He was a fighter and he stuck to it. He showed the world that you can do what you love and still find spirituality in it. Muhammad Ali and Kareem would later go on to be great friends and Muhammad portrayed the image of Kareem that he changed his name because that's who he wanted to be and not who others wanted him to be. Throughout all the coaches in Kareem's life Kareem stated that Muhammad Ali was the only one to show him what to do with winning.

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Now that basketball season was over Kareem could spend more time reading. Kareem loved reading but there was one book that quote on quote changed his life. This book was the ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’. As I said before Malcolm X had a huge impact on Kareem he was very inspired by him and took everything he said into consideration. In this book Malcolm X expressed how he wanted to end racism ‘by any means necessary’. Kareem found  himself being overly joyful and very happy that he helped spread the message of the Nation of Islam.   When Kareem was getting to almost finishing the book Malcolm X embraced his means of being a muslim. he explained how through Islam he found himself and how it was a journey of spirituality awakenings and how it was brought to him and broad daylight. This book changed Kareem’s life because Kareem knew he could relate so much to it. After being around Muhammad Ali, doing his own research, and thinking about all the other people in the world who were going through the same realization as him he was so touched that someone had come forward and publicly changed themselves for the better.

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Read 8,380 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Alternate cover for ISBN 9780345350688 Through a life of passion and struggle, Malcolm ...

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Like many things in Kareem’'s life he was faced with a bunch of choices. He had already chosen to side with Muhammad Ali in some allegations. But he had also found himself spiritually.  He explored many different religions such as Buddhism, Taoism and various Protestant beliefs. He expressed this to his friends and his friend just told him to pick one. And he said that he would when he was ready like anything else he has done in his whole life. He had always studied Islam but his Interest really began after reading the Malcolm X biography that book transformed him and he knew that many of the black people that were slaves brought from Africa were also Muslim. He was also asked by a bunch of people why he abandoned Christianity or what his religion was, but he always tried to disengage from the conversation due to his parents' disagreement. He started expressing his studies for Islam his parents were never pleased with a conversation. They always thought that he was a role model and Christianity and that many Christians fought for what they had and he was never denying it but just didn't feel right in that religion.  Before his senior year he had walked into a mosque and was handed the Quran. He had memorized it all in the English translation, and later walked back into the mosque and took his shahada. Now he was officially Muslim. Everyone still called him Lew and he was looking for a new name for people to call him. After he met with someone named Hamas he learned more about Islam and retook his shahada after learning every aspect of it. Hummus helped him and renamed him Abdul Kareem which translated to Noble generous servant.  He felt something missing but Hamas added Jabbar which translates to powerful. Kareem was now happy with everything in his life: his religion, community, teachers but he knew something else was missing.

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Now that he was fully himself he was finally becoming Kareem. The transition from playing college basketball and professional basketball was easier than he thought but was still very hard. He was living alone in a big city away from his family and friends. The place that he was living had a very good Muslim population which he was happy about and yes he was a famous athlete with lots of money but he felt so lonely and started to struggle with his religion. He started to ask what Islam was and what message Prophet Muhammad (SAW)  said and he seemed to answer them  in the most simple way. He expressed to his teammates, friends and people asking him that God was in the details and we don't focus on the details. That's why it was so hard for many people to find god. She learned how to adapt to both professional basketball and the questions he was getting even though she was still trying to find out himself he finished his season and ended up scoring 2,599 points. After the season was over and after they became NBA champions he legally changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and he hasn't felt as good as he did ever before in his life. Throughout his whole life he allowed people to name him control his body control, his mind and everything he was feeling. But this was the one thing he felt he had control over and after doing so he had felt so much better there was no more Lew who won all those championships and now he became Kareem and the world just needed to just stick around long enough to see what he can do.