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Leaping over racial barriers PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Brian McCauley   
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 08:00
Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the inauguration of President Barack Obama took on special meaning this year for Paola building inspector Bill Trout.

As an African American, the 49-year-old Paolan has been in the minority throughout most every stage of his life, whether it was school or career.

He’ll never forget being a young teenager touring Olathe City Hall, the county courthouse and the police and fire stations, while listening to local and state officials talking about their jobs.

“I recall at the age of 15, saying that ‘Someday, when I grow up, I want to be like some of these guys,’” Trout said.

The dream wasn’t an easy one for a young black man living in a 95 percent white town to accomplish, but Trout followed it nonetheless.

At Olathe High School, Trout had black and white friends, but there was intense racial fighting all around him. The tension disturbed Trout, whose parents taught him to look beyond color.

“I was raised to see everybody as a person,” he said.

His parents moved him to a school in De Soto, where there were only two other black students. Still, Trout said it was one of the best experiences of his life, as he was welcomed by most of his peers.

Using the CETA/Manpower Program, which was a summer youth program started by former President Jimmy Carter, Trout found summer work, and he quickly learned about construction.

He eventually was hired by the city of Lenexa full-time, becoming the first black city employee. He absorbed as much training as he could, specifically learning to conduct inspections, and stayed with the city for 16 years.

While working for Lenexa, Trout also ran for office as an Olathe City Councilman, but he lost by about 200 votes. Two years later, he ran again, and this time he turned the tables, winning by about 200 votes. Trout became the first black elected official in Olathe.

Today, Trout is the first black person to hold a department head position for the city of Paola, where he has worked for the past eight years.

As the country came together this week to honor civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and watch the inauguration of the country’s first African-American president, Trout said it was hard not to be overwhelmed with emotion when he thinks about just how far he, and his country, has come.

“Truly this is a day that I would have never thought would happen, because just knowing what I went through to get elected to a local office, I can’t begin to imagine what Mr. Obama has gone through,” Trout said. “My prayers are with him and his family, and may God keep on blessing them.”
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