<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What if our America is not dead but a country that is waiting to be born?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What if the story of America is one long labor?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What if all of our grandfathers and grandmothers are standing behind us now, those who survived occupation and genocide, slavery and Jim Crow, detentions and political assault?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What if they are whispering in our ears “You are brave”?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What if this is our nation’s greatest transition?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What does the midwife tell us to do?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">BREATHE</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">And then?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">PUSH! </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Valerie Kaur</span></div></body></html>