NAACP Protest Expected at B of A Office : Banking: Group calls decision to close a branch in Compton racist, but company officials say it was simply good business.

A local branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People is expected to stage a protest at a Bank of America office in Gardena today, saying the bank’s decision to close a Security Pacific branch in nearby Compton was racially motivated.

The NAACP office is expected to urge the B of A customers to move their accounts to institutions owned by African-Americans.

“Bank of America has turned its back on the residents of Compton, so now it’s time for us to turn our backs on the bank,” said Royce Esters, an accountant and president of the NAACP’s Compton chapter.

Bank of America closed the branch in Compton last month as part of its efforts to consolidate after it merged with Security Pacific. Customer accounts were transferred to a B of A branch in Gardena, about a mile west.

Closing the Security Pacific office “was not a question of race, but purely a business decision,” a B of A spokesman said. “It didn’t make sense to keep the old branch open when we can accommodate customers at an existing branch only a mile away.” He also noted that the bank has another branch office in Compton.

Esters accused B of A officials of “bailing out” of Compton because most of its residents are African-American, and he said the closure will hurt the efforts to rebuild the area after last spring’s riots.

The move has also proved to be a major inconvenience for the former Security Pacific customers, creating long lines at the Bank of America branch, Esters said. Customers sometimes must wait more than half an hour to make a simple transaction, he said, and some have even gotten into fistfights while standing in line.

“I miss my old bank,” said Rachel Hunt, who was waiting in line Wednesday to meet with a customer service representative while holding her baby. “The service here is awful.”

The branch manager was not available for comment.