Anthea Butler, a black professor at the University of Pennsylvania, called Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson a "coon" for saying he has no problem with people flying a Confederate flag on their private property, reported Campus Reform.
"If only there was a 'coon of the year' award..." tweeted Butler in response to another tweet citing a Sports Illustrated article which quoted Carson, the only black 2016 presidential candidate, as saying that NASCAR fans should be allowed to fly Confederate flags on private property.
"Swastikas are a symbol of hate for some people, too. And yet they still exist in museums and places like that," said Carson last week during an event in North Carolina with NASCAR legend Richard Petty, noting it's "a local issue." "If it's a majority of people in that area who want it to fly, I certainly wouldn't take it down," he said
Carson added in a separate interview: "I am not opposed to anybody doing whatever they want to do on their private property.... We've already talked about the Confederate flag issue way too much.... But as a general principle, people can do whatever they want on their private property, that's one of the basic tenets of freedom in America," reported NBC News.
Butler apparently took offense and issued the inflammatory tweet before deleting it and setting her account to private. Campus Reform managed to acquire a screenshot beforehand.
Many blacks take offense to the word "coon," supposedly derived from the Portuguese word "barracoos," which means a "building constructed to hold slaves for sale," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.
Metaphorically speaking, Butler's tweet insinuated that Carson is a "slave who belongs in a wooden shed" as he awaits auction, according to Campus Reform.
Butler, an associate professor of religious studies at the Ivy League school, tweeted another noteworthy comment in 2013 after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing Trayvon Martin, calling God a "white racist... carrying a gun and stalking young black men."
After controversy erupted over that comment, Butler bragged at the Harlem Book Fair that she had tenure and "can't get fired," according to the College Fix.
