Emotions Still Run High Over Compton NAACP Endorsement : Civil rights: Support of conservative black judge divides local membership. Branch leader is criticized as ‘defiant.’

They spoke of moving ahead, of looking forward to goals and projects. But the emotions and tensions of their recent battle dogged Saturday’s meeting of the Compton branch of the NAACP.

It was the group’s first reunion since a well-publicized rift with national leaders over the local branch’s decision to support Clarence Thomas, a black conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by President Bush for the U. S. Supreme Court.

About 50 members crowded a conference room at the Founders National Bank on Compton Boulevard on Saturday afternoon, many in search of explanations, others to defend the endorsement--even though it nearly resulted in censure by the national office of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

And the group was clearly divided.

“We want to see what you did, and clear it up!” one member called from the audience to President Royce Esters, interrupting the proceedings. “That’s why we’re here today.”

Others tried to shout her down. “You’re out of order!”

“I’m not out of order,” she shot back. “I’m an old-timer.”

The vote for Thomas came at a meeting July 20, and was 32 to 0, according to Esters and others who were present. Many who attended Saturday’s gathering did not attend the July session and suggested that the Compton leadership ignored majority opinion.

The focus of Saturday’s meeting was a presentation by John Mance, a member of the NAACP board of directors, who helped engineer a compromise that saved the Compton members from punishment, as long as they agreed not to campaign for Thomas in the civil rights organization’s name.

Mance warned against making a “hero” of Esters and said it would be a bad idea to challenge the NAACP hierarchy further.

“If you, for one moment, think you’ve beaten the national down,” Mance cautioned. “If you try again, you’ll know where the power is. Oh, you’ll know.”

Esters listened to Mance and the audience, then rose to speak.

“I’m not retracting my statement,” Esters said. “In the United States . . . we have freedom of speech.”

But, he said, talk about Thomas was distracting the organization from more important work. It was time to “stop bickering among us” and work for the self-help programs that both he and the Supreme Court nominee advocate.

The agreement with the national office stands, he said.

Later, outside the meeting, Mance described Esters as “defiant” in his response.

“I don’t think this is the end of it,” Mance said.

If Esters and others from the Compton executive board continue to promote their support of Thomas, Mance said, the group risks losing its charter.

The positive fallout, he and others agreed, is that membership in the tiny NAACP branch is soaring. “You can’t say you haven’t heard of the Compton NAACP,” past President Willis Curry said. “And maybe when the dust settles, there’ll be some (new) programs.”