DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat President of the Tucson NAACP chapter Clarence Boykins speaks yesterday during a press conference at the Islamic Center about the need for brotherhood in Tucson.

The director of the Department of African-American Studies spoke out yesterday at the Islamic Center of Tucson at East First Street and North Tyndall Avenue. He was confronted by UAPD officers at the same intersection earlier this month as a suspect who threatened a sandwich shop employee with a knife.

Professor Julian Kunnie told about 60 supporters and local media that a change needs to be made in how black people are viewed in the community, which NAACP Tucson President Clarence Boykins said could only be made with a change in society's attitude.

"It'll take time, but we'll get it," Boykins said.

Kunnie said he was leaving a 24-hour peace vigil at the Islamic Center of Tucson on April 6 when he and a friend noticed a UAPD cruiser drive by then turn around. He was then detained for 10 minutes, part of that time spent with a gun pointed at his groin and chest. He said he felt he was picked out of a crowd of people because he is black.

"I asked him if the person he's looking for was black and he said he was black with hair," he said.

After the officer parked his car in front of Kunnie, he yelled at him to get his hands out of his pockets and then told him to get on the ground, Kunnie said.

"I have never been that humiliated in my life," he said. "I told him I was a professor and he said ÎProfessors do things too.'"

Kunnie also said that officers wouldn't let him get his identification from his truck.

Kunnie's witness, who goes by the name of Xylem, confirmed the story, saying that what was initially a call to protect the Islamic Center turned out to be a search for a black man that the officer thought fit Kunnie's description.

"They told me to get out, which I think was a dumb idea, why would you send away your accomplice without asking questions?" she said.

Kunnie ended up not fitting the description, not even wearing the same clothing as the suspect, he said. After a drive-by line-up done by the witness, he was released.

Afterward, an officer told him, "If you had been bald we wouldn't have stopped you," Kunnie said.

UAPD Chief Tony Daykin said he hasn't had a chance to formally investigate the incident because Kunnie hasn't made a formal complaint. Daykin said he tried to contact Kunnie several times with no results.