Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Could Have Visited Any School District, and He Chose OUSD

March 30, 2023 Momo Chang
An African American boy holds a book up for an elder African American man to sign the book.
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar signs a book for Jimon Campbell of the Oakland High school boys basketball team. Photo by Momo Chang.
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NBA legend, humanitarian, and author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar visited Oakland High yesterday to congratulate the Oakland High boys and Oakland Tech girls basketball teams for winning state championship titles this year.

He was there to celebrate the teams, and also to share a message about education: “What you have to do is put in the work, put in the hours. Study what you have to study. You can be whatever you want to be.”

Close up of a cover and spines of the book "On the Shoulder of Giants."
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar signed copies of his book, “On the Shoulder of Giants.”

Oakland High principal Pamela Moy also stated that the boys basketball team student-athletes have maintained at least a 3.0 GPA.

After Abdul-Jabbar spoke, the young people lined up on stage to meet him and get copies of On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance signed by the author. Abdul-Jabbar studied history at UCLA, and has a foundation focusing on STEM education. He is a CA Department of Education ambassador.

A large group of diverse people and high school basketball players pose for a photo inside an auditorium.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, CA State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, the Oakland High boys and Oakland Tech girls basketball teams, school board members, teachers, and coaches pose for a photo with NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Photo by Momo Chang.
About Momo Chang 124 Articles
Momo Chang is a freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Senior Editor at Civil Eats. She served program alumni as the Oakland Voices Co-Director from 2019 to 2024. Her work focuses on healthcare, immigration, education, Asian American communities, food and culture. She is a former staff writer at the Oakland Tribune. Momo has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative reporting and the Asian American Journalists Association, among others. Her work has appeared in the East Bay Express, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, and The New York Times. Momo is primarily a print journalist who also produces audio and visual stories for documentary film and radio. She is a Senior Contributing Editor for Hyphen and formerly the Content Manager at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

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