The news of late has been ripe with stories of bias, particularly against African Americans. From Starbucks to Yale, from a California AirBnB to a Nordstrom Rack store in Missouri, white Americans have been the perpetrators of racist stereotyping, unwarranted fearmongering and outrageous behavior. And to people of color, sadly, it’s nothing new. Just another day ending in Y for folks whose lives are marked by incidents of suspicion, wrongful arrest, illegal stop and seizure, unjust sentencing, prejudice and discrimination.

It’s an American tradition going back centuries: treat others unlike how you yourself would want to be treated; fear the stranger and show favor to those like you.

Who is there to speak out against injustice, and stand up for Law & Order (you know it’s not just a TV franchise, right)?

This month on RiseUP With Dawn Ennis, meet Clare Kindall, Democratic candidate for attorney general of Connecticut, and Gabrielle Sprierer, a trangender activist and public speaker from Long Island, New York.

Below the link, you’ll find helpful links aimed at giving you a chance to RiseUP.

To find out more about the president’s ban on transgender military and what’s being done to stop it, click here and here.

You can learn more about my guest, Assistant Attorney General Clare Kindall and her run for the top job, by going to this link. I’ve invited all the other candidates for attorney general in Connecticut to be my guest in future episodes and I’m looking forward to introducing them to you in the months ahead.

Register to vote in Connecticut by clicking here. If you live outside the state, here’s a link to check if you’re registered and there’s info about how to do so if you’re not. The League of Women Voters are your go-to resource for information about voting, no matter where you live. And women in Connecticut are encouraged to learn about running for office by going to EmergeCT’s website. 

Want to learn more about net neutrality? Click here. The current rules expire in June and there’s more information about that here.

Do you have a complaint about your utility bill, or another issue? Here’s the link to complain to CT’s current Attorney General George Jepsen.

Interested in politics? Click here to link to the Democratic Party in West Hartford, and the national party. Republicans in our town can click here. The national GOP is here.

To connect with this month’s special correspondent Gabrielle Spierer, hit her up with a friend request on Facebook. She’s spoken at the Keystone Conference and First Event convention, among other venues.

If you’d like to be my next special correspondent, leave a comment here or email me at dawnennis@gmail.com

As I write this I am preparing for major surgery on Tuesday, May 15, the revision surgery that I’ve fought my state Medicaid program to get for two years. I’ll be back in June with a new episode of RiseUP, and will try to blog about my experience in the weeks in between!