After another recent white police-related unprovoked brutal death of an African American during a “routine traffic stop” ten days ago, a county prosecutor shocked rights workers yesterday when he indicted the officer on 1st degree murder charges. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters indicted Cincinnati University Police Officer Ray Tensing on 1st degree murder charges for violently killing 43-year-old Sam DuBose 10 days ago. Racial tensions are escalating with the one-year anniversary of police murder of young Michael Brown Jr. with his hands over his head, begging “Don’t shoot.” Historic mass civil disobedience will mark the anniversary and a year of white on black bloodshed.

“Unfortunately, what’s shocking about this case is not just the vile racism and brutality of Officer Tensing’s actions, but the fact that he was charged and how quickly,” states Color of Change in a written statement Thursday.

The white Ohio policeman who recently shot a black man during a routine traffic stop pleaded not guilty to murder charges Thursday as his two colleagues were suspended and the victim’s family express thanks for body cameras. The family of Sam DuBose, 43, said he would have been dismissed as just “one other stereotype” of a violent black man if not for a body camera video showing DuBose did nothing to justify the shooting.

One officer who responded to the shooting stated that he saw Tensing being dragged, according to an initial police report. Prosecutors said a review of the video footage, however, showed Tensing was never in danger during the July 19 incident and only hit the ground after he fired the deadly shot.

“I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make — totally unwarranted,” the prosecutor Joe Deters said. “It’s an absolute tragedy in the year 2015 that anyone would behave in this manner. It was senseless.”

Almost one year ago, police killed young Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri with his hands in the air, repeatedly begging, “Don’t shoot!” The event was a long-time coming unveiling of deep-seated racial tensions in the United States. Since then, the nation has faced overt heightened racial tensions with a year of high-profile incidents of white police killing unarmed African Americans. Now not only Ferguson, but the entire nation braces for an unprecedented nationwide civil unrest next weekend. Starting August 10, mass civil disobedience is to break out across the U.S. in response to militarized police brutality against people of color.

[Read: Ominous Anniversary Imminent, Bloody Mass Civil Disobedience Looms]

Also next week, Cleveland hosts the 1st Republican presidential debate, perfect timing for rights groups to get their messages across the the public.

“We’ve purchased 9 billboards right outside the convention center,” says Color of Change, saying it wants the national “crisis of discriminatory policing”  front and center at the debate and beyond.

The above images reference the tragic police killings of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, 22-year-old John Crawford, and 37-year-old Tanisha Anderson, respectively^{, a}All three were killed by Ohio police in the last year with not one abusive and discriminatory police who killed them facing any criminal charges. They are each still employed as police officers and in each case, it was not the first time these officers had killed or harmed a Black person — and it likely won’t be the last.

Color of Change reports today: The Department of Justice and local prosecutors that have failed to hold these officers accountable are responsible for the unconscionable loss of Black life we have seen in the past year. Mike Brown, VonDerrit Myers, Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd, Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Yuvette Henderson, Freddie Gray, Mya Hall, Sandra Bland, Sam DuBose, Kindra Chapman, Ralkina Jones, and Jonathan Sanders, just to name a few. Make no mistake, the challenge before us is centuries old. But the growing awareness around police killings has created a new opportunity to hold our leaders accountable and win the type of transformative change that can finally put an end to this madness.

“It’s likely that without these billboards, Republican candidates will ignore systemic racism and discriminatory policing in next week’s debate. That no one will raise the fact that police kill Black Americans at nearly the same rate as Jim Crow era lynchings and more than 175 Black people have been killed by police this year alone.^8,9But we cannot afford to allow this dangerous silence to continue. The billboards around the convention center will honor Tamir, Tanisha and John, while probing debate moderators to ask the questions we need answered:

“Does the GOP support responsible body camera policies? Will candidates support a national database documenting police practices? Does the GOP support the federal government continuing to militarize police? How can we expect police to police themselves when one of their own commits a crime? Should cops with a history of racism and abuse still have jobs?

“We need both parties — Republicans and Democrats — to place the issues of mass incarceration and policing at the center of their policy agendas if we ever hope to see any kind of real change at the federal level.”

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Ominous Anniversary Imminent, Bloody Mass Civil Disobedience Looms