The REAL Origins And Meanings Of The Saying "Not Today, Colonizer"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post documents the origins and meaning of the African American Vernacular English saying "Not today, colonizer".

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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THE REAL ORIGINS OF "NOT TODAY, COLONIZER"
"Not today, colonizer" is a fusion of the saying "Not today, Satan" and the saying "Don’t scare me like that, colonizer."

"Not today, Satan" is attributed to season 6 Ru Paul Drag Race contestant (and eventual winner) Bianca Del Rio. That season began airing on American television on February 24, 2014.

"Don't scare me like that, colonizer" is spoken by Black Panther (T'Challa)'s sister Shuri in the 2018 movie Black Panther.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SAYING "NOT TODAY, SATAN"
Definition: "Not today Satan"
From https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Not%20today%20Satan%2C%20not%20today.
"Not today Satan, not today.
"Not today Satan, not today," comes from the show RuPaul's Drag Race, and was said by season 6's winner Bianca Del Rio who served us some clown realness. The meaning means the devil a.k.a. Satan will not get in your way today.
"I was wondering if you were going to turn out a look that we haven't already seen before?" Said Courtney Act

" Not today Satan, not today." said Bianca Del Rio
#rupaul's drag race#bianca del rio#drag queen#clown realness#rolodex of hate
by Officialextazy January 18, 2015"

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Video Clip From RuPaul's Drag Race:
Bianca Del Rio: ''Not today, Satan, not today!'' (RuPaul's Drag Race S06E12)



itsduardo, Published on May 11, 2014
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread
1. Dominique Tuckson, 2014
"Does anyone remember why Bianca said this?"

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REPLY
2. Tom Frost, 2014
"Courtney Act said something a long the lines of "If I'm brutally honest I thought you would've done something new, you've done this kind of look before."
So Bianca said this in reply haha"

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3.Timothy Nguyen, 2015
"ICONIC."

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4. HipnikDragomir, 2018
"So many people still say this and I just found out where it's from"

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Article Excerpt:
From https://thewunderkindof.com/2017/04/03/not-today-satan-cultural-appropriation-and-queer-erasure/ NOT TODAY, SATAN—CULTURAL APPROPRIATION AND QUEER ERASURE
APRIL 3, 2017, DANNY MCCARTHY
"Candace Cameron Bure, who played DJ Tanner on Full House and used to be Elisabeth Hasslebeck 2.0 on The View, was recently seen on her Instagram wearing a shirt that says “Not Today, Satan.” Before we dive into the real deep drama, let’s just focus on the fact that Bure, a noted conservative and Christian, saw that shirt and thought, “Oh my god, I totally feel like that.” Wouldn’t you, as a Christian, wear a shirt that said, perhaps, “Never, Satan”? Should Satan come back tomorrow? I’m being mean and dumb, so let’s continue.

In fact, the phrase, “Not today, Satan” originates from Bianca del Rio, the winner of the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. In that moment, Bianca is responding to fellow contestant Courtney Act’s comment that Bianca always wore the same silhouette. The phrase went on to become the title of Bianca’s comedy tour, and was so well-known that it spawned those t-shirts—one which would eventually find its way onto the body of one former child star. I’m betting that Candace didn’t know that.

[...]

Cultural appropriation, because that’s what this was, is never okay. Whether or not Bure knew the origin of that phrase, the fact that she—someone who has professed actively anti-gay sentiments—would wear a shirt with a phrase made popular by a drag queen is ludicrous. She does not get to be a part of that zeitgeist. Black women have been facing cultural appropriation forever. Like the Kardashians wearing cornrows, mainstream society is co-opting what they find “cute” about black femaleness without giving the actual people any respect or due.

Drag Race is an interesting case study because so much of it has become self-referential. Laganja Estranja’s “Okrrrr” and “I’m feeling very attacked” are referenced and replicated in queens of later seasons. Khloe Kardashian utilized “Okrrr” in her capsule collection of Kylie Cosmetics lip-kits. When things seep into the mainstream, it’s often without the knowledge of where they came from. And so as Drag Race becomes consumed by a wider audience, you run the risk that people will take that culture—they think that because they watch it, that warrants a piece of queer culture. It doesn’t. Because once people who have no right to this culture begin to use it, it spills over tiers and tiers of society until it ends up on the chest of someone notably anti-gay.”...

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SAYING "DON'T SCARE ME COLONIZER"
From http://www.dbknews.com/2018/02/15/black-panther-movie-chadwick-boseman-michael-b-jordan-marvel/
'Black Panther' is the Marvel movie that finally speaks out
Unlike previous Marvel films, ‘Panther’ rises above the hype with refreshingly bold social commentary.
By Ryan Romano | February 14 [2018]
..."But where its predecessors wavered, Black Panther is unafraid to take a stand. The film outright condemns mass incarceration, the war on drugs and other powerful forces that are subjugating black Americans. It recognizes the brutality and injustice of conquest, whether European colonialism or a violent response to it. And ultimately, it endorses diplomacy over violence — a refreshing departure from the war porn that has long defined superhero cinema.

The movie isn't some preachy after-school special, either. Black Panther has some situational comedy (when T'Challa runs into his former flame Nakia in the heat of battle, he forgets where he is and lets out a nervous "hi" that nearly gets him killed), some dark humor (CIA agent Everett Ross startles Shuri, and she exclaims, "Don't scare me like that, colonizer!")"...

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From http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/black-panther-quotes-shuri-one-liners.html Here Are Shuri’s Best Black Panther One-Liners
By Hunter Harris, Feb. 28, 2018
..."Black Panther gives T’Challa’s little sis the movie’s most clever one-liners, and positions her as key to Wakanda’s superiority. It’s not insignificant that this movie’s world is rooted in the ambition and finesse of a teenage girl. As Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole told Vulture, “Writing Shuri … she’s so precocious! The idea of her being the smartest person on the planet is something we talked about a lot, and kind of a jumping-off point: What is it like in Wakanda to have technology be something that’s rooted in youth? It kind of turns on its head the paradigm of Western civilization, when you look at the people who are doing the creating.”

As a result, Shuri’s best lines are delivered almost as throwaways — like when she casually exclaims that Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) is a colonizer.“...

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THE CONTEMPORARY MEANING OF THE WORD "COLONIZER" IN THE BLACK PANTHER MOVIE AND ELSEWHERE
From https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Colonizer
"Colonizer
A person of Caucasian origins who is not helping to improve life for the people of color in the 21st century (mainly African Americans). They see nothing wrong with a events such as segregation, slavery, and the wars started in Africa due to the ridiculous ways of trade with whites.

"Shut up daquan, go pick some cotton." "F&&k^ you colonizer, wakanda forever" *Tribal music begins to play*
#colonizer] [white people
by Shomari Adebowale February 28, 2018
-snip-
^ This word is fully spelled out in this quote. Everything else in this quote is “as is”.

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"Colonizer
Those who contributed to inequality in the United States through colonization and slavery.

Also....

Donald Trump, the White House staff, Congress, the Supreme Court, American politics in general, or when a white person makes a Sunken Place joke.

“Don’t scare me like that, colonizer!” Shuri - Black Panther

via giphy
#colonizer] [white man"
by BlaxicanPrincess February 23, 2018

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WHAT THE SAYING "NOT TODAY, COLONIZER" MEANS
When said or written by a Black person [or another Person Of Color], "not today, colonizer" means that the person isn't going to let the White person win; lure him (or her) into debates about who or what is or isn't racist, destroy his peace, upset him ; take away his joy etc.

"Not today" means "never".

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EXAMPLES OF THE SAYING "NOT TODAY, COLONIZER"
1. From https://www.etsy.com/listing/597024531/not-today-colonizer-t-shirt-black
"Not Today Colonizer T-Shirt black panther Shirt Men Women Kid Youth Tee Hoodie
$18.00+"
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This is just one of multiple websites selling these t-shirts and hoodies.

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2. From https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/judge-of-characters-colonizers-are-having-a-hard-time-1823249067
THE ROOT TV
Judge of Characters: Colonizers Are Having a Hard Time Stomaching Black Panther’s Success

Danielle Young, 2/23/18
"It’s official: Black Panther is a blockbuster hit, and our feelings will never be done with this film. This movie has emotionally affected us all. While there are many melanated people who are swathed in pride because of Black Panther’s representation and all-out beauty, there are just as many (if not more) melanin-deficient folks who can’t control their tears, hatred and overall desire to white.

Shoutout to Black Panther for providing so much culture to dissect and utilize. There’s a new word for wypipo thanks to Shuri: colonizers. And they’ve been acting up because of their claims of Black Panther being racist. So these colonizers have been pretending they were attacked by black folks at Black Panther showings, tweeting and asking questions about whether or not it’s racist for a white person to see or not see the movie, and assuming their presence would affect an entire theater of people. Not today, colonizers!”...
-snip-
Notice the contemporary spelling of "wypipo” for "white people".

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3. From https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-cohen-donald-trump-racist-comments_us_5bdcbd19e4b04367a87c9282
POLITICS 11/02/2018 06:18 pm ET
Michael Cohen Claims Trump Called Black People ‘Too Stupid’ To Vote For Him
The president’s former attorney said he wishes he had “been a bigger person” and quit the Trump Organization after hearing these racist comments.
By David Moye
..."one of the most shocking allegations involved the first season of “The Apprentice,” which came down to two male contestants: eventual winner Bill Rancic and Kwame Jackson, an African-American investment manager who had graduated from Harvard Business School.

“He said, ‘There’s no way I can let this black f-g win,’” Cohen is quoted as saying in Vanity Fair.

Jackson confirmed he had heard that Trump made comments like that but replied to the magazine with a reference to “Black Panther”: “My response to President Trump is simple and Wakandan. Not today, colonizer!”
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Pancocojams Editor's Notes
This quote is given as it's found in that article.

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This quote is the inspiration for this pancocojams blog post.

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I'm not at all surprised by this report and so won't comment on whether or not what was quoted was actually said.

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I find the use of "Wakanda" as an adjective interesting. [a Wakandan response]. Here's my definition for something being "Wakandan": pertaining to or having some or all of the characteristics that are said to belong to the [fictional] African nation of Wakanda, the nation that was popularized in the February 2018 Black Panther movie.

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