Fourth Down and Twenty Five Years to Go: The African American Athlete and the Justice System

In a book that is destined to generate heated debate and social analysis, noted sports attorney Donald Maurice Jackson attacks the high incidence of criminality and irresponsible conduct among African American athletes as well as the root causes of their inappropriate behavior. Discrimination, selectively harsh treatment, outright racism, irresponsible conduct, breakdown in the African American family…which factor most frequently lands African American athletes behind bars? From youth leagues to colleges, from high schools to professional sports leagues, Jackson attacks these issues head on and dispenses blame where blame is due. His exhaustive research and unique knowledge of sports results in a work that will have lasting relevance in the sports world. This hard hitting book exposes the underbelly of the sports world and the all too common consequences felt by African American athletes that are all too often entirely unprepared to deal with the consequences of their stardom. Are the “perpetrators” in effect “victims” of their own fame? Fourth Down and Twenty Five Years to Go is a groundbreaking and exhaustive look into the links between athletic stardom, RACE, fame, money and the legal system. The findings are alarming. Is America ready for a book that looks so intensely, so honestly—so uniquely—at the issues of race, media and sport? Thanks to Don Jackson, we’re all about to find out. —Gregg Doyel, National Columnist, CBS Sportsline.com