Like former talk-show host Arsenio Hall, Kenneth L. Shropshire, in his excellent book, In Black and White: Race and Sports in America, discusses things that make you go "HMMMMM?"

Unlike Hall, Shropshire not only makes you ponder, he offer insightful history and provocative analysis for why the sports world in America is so Black and white. He also provides a decisive course of action for narrowing the racial disparities which permeate that world.

Indeed, Shropshire says his goal in writing the book "was to focus on even-handed methods of addressing a continuing problem that likely will not disappear." But he also makes a concerted effort to explain why change is so important.

He sets up his case quite nicely with an introduction that examines the realities of racism and discrimination in this country, conceding that both are as American as apple pie. Shropshire deftly uses statistics to support his case, but he also establishes three key themes in his analysis of the sports industry.

The first theme focuses on the impact of color-blind policies and the failure of such policies in addressing existing race problems. The second looks at the need to recognize that unconscious racism exists in all America. And his final theme concerns the permanence of that racism in America. Only by understanding those concepts can reform come about, declares Shropshire, who emphasizes them throughout the hook

Take his historical perspective that examines the rise of racism and discrimination in sports from its earliest roots--from mixing of the races in most athletic events, to Jim Crow segregation; from the breaking of the color barrier by Jackie Robinson, to the "lawn jockey" mentality that manifested itself in the racist comments of Al Campanis, Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder and Marge Schott. According to Shropshire, that history shows that overwhelming change has not taken place and that for Blacks to have a greater role in sports, white people will have to relinquish power.