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Living to tell: Eugene Burnett

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<i>Eugene Burnett, 78, was the first black police sergeant for the Town of Babylon. He tried to buy a house in Levittown but was told that the owners wouldn't sell to "Negroes." He turned his anger into a drive to fight for civil rights.
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"I had run into prejudice as a child. Some of the experiences I had in East Harlem as a child revisited me when I became an adult. And I remember particularly policemen. I was walking across this intersection and this policeman was on duty in the intersection directing traffic. I don't know for what reason, I don't know to this day, but he kicked me as if he was at war and he was kicking a man. Kicked me in the pants. I don't understand how you can be that way with a child. Now, I've never felt that about any child, I don't care what race he is. I couldn't do that to a child.<br>
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"As a young man, I asked God personally never to allow me to lose my fervor about civil rights and the commitment to my community and my people. I guess the proudest moment was having the willingness to make the challenge. And we challenged it all down the line. You know, from the early issues, when we challenged the Amityville school system, where they were trying to build segregated schools. And we challenged them and brought national figures to the issue. [We] made the Amityville School Board change their plans ...<br>
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"[I want to be remembered] as an activist who never gave in or gave up the fight for civil rights -- the fight for freedom. I was toasted recently, and I can't think of the word that they said ... but that's what it meant, that I maintained the fervor in the fight for freedom."<br>
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-- JENNIFER BARRIOS<br>
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Eugene Burnett, 78, was the first black police sergeant for the Town of Babylon. He tried to buy a house in Levittown but was told that the owners wouldn't sell to "Negroes." He turned his anger into a drive to fight for civil rights.

"I had run into prejudice as a child. Some of the experiences I had in East Harlem as a child revisited me when I became an adult. And I remember particularly policemen. I was walking across this intersection and this policeman was on duty in the intersection directing traffic. I don't know for what reason, I don't know to this day, but he kicked me as if he was at war and he was kicking a man. Kicked me in the pants. I don't understand how you can be that way with a child. Now, I've never felt that about any child, I don't care what race he is. I couldn't do that to a child.

"As a young man, I asked God personally never to allow me to lose my fervor about civil rights and the commitment to my community and my people. I guess the proudest moment was having the willingness to make the challenge. And we challenged it all down the line. You know, from the early issues, when we challenged the Amityville school system, where they were trying to build segregated schools. And we challenged them and brought national figures to the issue. [We] made the Amityville School Board change their plans ...

"[I want to be remembered] as an activist who never gave in or gave up the fight for civil rights -- the fight for freedom. I was toasted recently, and I can't think of the word that they said ... but that's what it meant, that I maintained the fervor in the fight for freedom."

-- JENNIFER BARRIOS

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