Dr. Ben Carson was charged by a University of Pennsylvania professor as deserving of the “Coon of the Year Award” for remarks he made about Americans being free to fly whatever flags they want, including the Confederate flag.

Religious studies professor Anthea Butler — no stranger to making outrageous remarks — posted a tweet using the racial slur to describe Dr. Carson, Republican candidate and renowned pediatric neurosurgeon.

She deleted the tweet, but, as we all know the Internet is forever. A screen shot of the tweet was made, thanks to Campus Reform.

And what did Dr. Carson say that was so egregious?

In referring to NASCAR fans being free to fly the Confederate flag at races, Dr. Carson said, as quoted in a Sports Illustrated article: “If it’s a majority of people in that area who want [the Confederate battle flag] to fly, I certainly wouldn’t take it down,” if it was “private property and that’s what they want to do.”

And that’s all. He called no one vile racist names. He didn’t advocate returning to the days of Jim Crow. He merely stated what should be obvious: that citizens of this country have the right to speak and express themselves without being reviled and shamed by the “offended.”

But no, racist grievance-mongers like Anthea Butler — who in 2013 referred to God as a “white racist . . . carrying a gun and stalking black men” — demand that black men like Dr. Carson must remain on the Eternal Tribulation Plantation. If they dare to think differently, to refuse the shackles of constant victimhood, they must be shamed and destroyed.

Here’s a black man who is outraged at Butler’s comments, although his language is much more — shall we say blunt — than anything the genteel Dr. Carson would say. The videographer, Tommy Sotomayor, rips into Anthea Butler and her history of making racist remarks. Be warned, this is definitely not safe for work or around young children and probably your grandmother.

While Anthea Butler is consumed by racial hatred, Dr. Carson is a man whose worldview has advanced beyond the rage. As he once related:

I was asked by an NPR reporter once why I don’t talk about race that often. I said, ‘It’s because I’m a neurosurgeon.’ And she thought it was a strange response. . . I said, You see, when I take someone to the operating room, I’m actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn’t make them who they are.

Anthea Butler will pop up every now and then and rattle the internet with her outrageous comments,then return to the dank hole from which she emerged. Dr. Ben Carson — whether or not he becomes President — will always be remembered by Americans as an honorable man. A great man.