Long Beach : Berry Returns to NAACP
Frank L. Berry, who took a leave of absence as local president of the NAACP to run for City Council, has returned as head of the civil rights organization.
Berry, 44, placed second to Clarence Smith in a 10-candidate, special 6th District election Aug. 26. During that campaign, Berry said he was not sure he would return to his NAACP post because many of the association’s directors supported Smith, who is also a director.
But now, Berry said, he will serve the remaining three months of his two-year NAACP term and perhaps run for reelection at the end of the year. Berry has been president of the Long Beach chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People since 1978.
“I was surprised that certain people didn’t support me” in the campaign, Berry said. “But I later in discussions discovered why, and that issue was resolved.”
Berry entered the campaign later than Smith and third-place finisher John Rambo, and that siphoned off some of his support, he said.
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