At the recent NAACP Image Awards, R&B crooner Ledisi said, “We’re going through some hard times, but we’re going to make it through,” before leading the audience in a particularly resonant rendition of “My soul looks back and wonders, how I got over.”

Over.

Everything out of the White House this last month says, “Get back, jack” to all who had benefited from the Great Society launched by President Lyndon Baines Johnson a mere 60 years ago. The unmistakable message to Black folks, darker-hued immigrants, LGBTQ folks, free expressionists, internationalists, environmentalists — indeed to everyone who does not swear allegiance to the MAGA movement — is that your time in the sun is over.

Over.

Much of mainstream media is treating all this as normal. Even standard bearers who issued dire warnings about how MAGA and Project 2025-centered governance would spell the end of democracy — wealthy folks like Barack Obama and George Clooney — have told the rest of us to get over it. They say the American way is to campaign hard, concede to the victor and move on.

Over.

I’m over the confusion, panic, fear and unmooring that the new regime in Washington has methodically and boastfully fostered this past month. The tumult is all with an eye toward convincing any who would dare question the new reality. After all, if that were not so, why would we see Congress go silent just as millions of Americans are thrown out of their jobs with bogus claims that they are unfit? Or a petulant billionaire Svengali make Washington his new sandbox? Or the other nations of the world forced to wrestle with demands that they cede their lands and their sovereignty or face the wrath of the 47th president of the United States?

Over.

I’m over granting access to my headspace to this foolishness, or what Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks calls “chaos by design.” A first step in self-care is consumption of news in moderation. Get over the 24-hour news cycle. That’s mostly a recycling of actual news and lots of pontificating. Once or twice a day give yourself a dose. I recommend news roundups like The Banner’s The Scan (morning) or the PM Scan (evenings) newsletters for local news. And similar ones in the morning and afternoon for national and international news from the Associated Press. Or NPR’s Up First podcast and Vox’s Today Explained podcast or newsletter. Mix it up, checking in on a different source each day. This intentional approach will let you know what you need to dig into deeper and what you can let go for now.

Stay informed, but also find ways to take countermeasures. Listen to elders who advise preparing for dark days. I’m keeping my pantry supplied, my data protected, and my go-bag packed — and freeing myself from the constant pull of the internet. Yes, it’s possible to live without Amazon Prime deliveries every few days. Just remember that little red engine of children’s lore and tell yourself, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I know I can.”

Sen. Alsobrooks is trying to develop a response. She, too, is disquieted by the silence from Capitol Hill. “I think people have a right to feel enraged about all of it.,” she recently told reporters. “All of it’s horrible.”

Maryland, which is second only to Washington, D.C., in its concentration of federal workers, stands to be hard hit by the layoffs, firings and agency shutdowns. Until Elon “Chainsaw” Musk took control, more than 400,000 Marylanders were civilian employees or held jobs supported by federal contracts. We should come to the aid of our neighbors who find themselves cut adrift from what once was considered a safe employment sector. Black people went through such a purging a century ago when President Woodrow Wilson brought his version of white supremacy to the White House. That we made it through that time can reassure everyone caught up in this mess today. In the meantime, Gov. Wes Moore has set up a website [AM1] to keep federal workers apprised of resources.

We can also register our concerns in other ways, starting with letting our elected representatives hear from us. Get off the couch and out of your head by taking part in whichever calls for action suit your fancy.

To protect my sanity I’ve blocked the daily barrage of text messages with desperate appeals from everyone from the NAACP to Win With Black Women to SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) to celebrities lending their names to a cause. I can’t take the noise.

I am aware, however, of calls for action, like a nationwide boycott — called an economic blackout — aimed at major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and fast-food chains. People were asked to withhold their spending on Feb. 28 to protest high prices, corporate greed and rollbacks of support for diversity, equity, and inclusion in obeisance to the new administration. Taking part might not have had an immediate effect on these corporations’ profitability, but it was surely a balm to participants while emboldening them to stay the course.

We can come out on the other side of this challenging period and be able to join Ledisi in marveling at how we got over. Maybe a little wisdom from Winnie the Pooh can help: “Promise me you’ll always remember that you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

I’m over anyone who says otherwise.

E.R. Shipp is a veteran journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. She is also an associate professor at Morgan State University.

ER.shipp@thebaltimorebanner.com