People featured in this column have been selected randomly from the telephone book.
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MOSCOW - John Crout came to Moscow 28 years ago on a University of Idaho football scholarship and says he has continued to pursue a dream of bringing racial diversity to the Palouse.
But the effort, he confides, has recently become clouded by some raspy personal problems.
While in the midst of a divorce, he's fighting to retain custody of a child he fathered with another woman. What's more, the other woman is related to a prominent elected official. And people are talking.
Going public (to a point) with his circumstances, John says, is a product of having nothing to hide.
"If there was something to hide, you wouldn't have been allowed entry," he says of agreeing to an interview on condition the names of others involved aren't disclosed.
John, a full-time Walmart employee, is the driving force behind African Free Inc., a local nonprofit organization dedicated to introducing black history and culture to the region in hope of educating a predominantly white population while attracting more blacks as residents.
"We've been in existence since 1990."
At 49, John is also head of the Palouse Umpires Association. He works through both the Moscow and Pullman recreation departments to oversee umpiring of area softball games at the youth and adult league levels.
"I'm very visible in this community."
His wife lives in Boise with their daughter pending completion of a divorce. "We're still friends," he says, adding he remains in Moscow with legal custody of a 15-month-old son by the other woman with whom he was involved. The courts, attorneys and state child protection officials remain involved in all of it, he confirms.
"I've never been through anything like this before. It's just too stupid for words," says John, adding he's representing himself in all the legal matters. Mostly, he says, he worries rumors and other talk around town might undermine what he and others have been trying to accomplish through AFI.
"One of our biggest goals is to do something that will aid diversity in the area. So we've really hit the area of education in that sense." In the past, John says, AFI has sponsored a mobile exhibit that's appeared in various local venues and launched a Juneteenth Celebration in 2005 at Moscow High School.
"Juneteenth. That's an African-American celebration day," John says, explaining how June 19th is observed as a commemoration of emancipation in black communities. "Down south we celebrate it. Up north, they haven't quite gotten to that point." Born and raised in Texas, John laments the celebration, as well as other efforts by AFI, have been sporadic on the Palouse.
"I see myself, being an older African-American man, it is my job to pass on the culture and history."
To that end, he says, he hopes to somehow convert the soon-to-be-closed Moscow Walmart store where he works into a museum. Named after his late mother, the museum would be dedicated to black history and aimed at creating a siren for other blacks who, like him, find the Palouse to be a beautiful place lacking only one thing - a cultural hub.
"In most places, black communities rely on our churches. It's our hub. If you don't have a hub, there's nothing to look forward to," John explains. "With black people that's where we go. We communicate, we find fashion, we get everything we need from there." In the absence of a black church on the Palouse, John suggests the museum, where permanent exhibits can be housed, could become the hub.
"This is something we can rally around."
Walmart, which is building a new store in neighboring Pullman, has announced the closure of the Moscow store, but also a later reopening under a new configuration. "We're really eyeballing the Walmart building as being the a natural place to actually have a site for our home base museum," John says, explaining the closest similar black museums are in Boise and Seattle.
"How do you tell someone it's nice out here? It's beautiful out here. What you want to do is set a hub up here. And that's what we're trying to create with this African-American museum." As a nonprofit charitable organization, AFI can apply for grant dollars to purchase a building, John says.
He confirms, however, his personal problems could now get in the way of his dream coming true. He vows to retain custody of his son and fight to protect his reputation.
"People who are close to me, they know the truth."
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Johnson may be contacted at djohnson@lmtribune.com or (208) 883-0564.
