We’ve said repeatedly that what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer should’ve never happened.

It was a tragedy, and we believe the officer responsible for his death was rightfully convicted. The system in this case – and in a majority of cases – worked and resulted in an appropriate outcome.

All summer and fall and continuing to the present, we have seen Black Lives Matter members protest across the country over Floyd’s death, Breonna Taylor’s death in Louisville and others across the country.

We understand their anger and desire to protest against what they see as police brutality. As a First Amendment business, we totally support their right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

For the most part, we believe BLM is made up of people who want to see justice served in cases of unjust deaths of Blacks at the hands of police officers. We also believe in due process and believe accused police officers deserve the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.

While we believe most of BLM is made up of people who want to exercise their First Amendment rights, our support for some in that group stops when they break the laws or act in inappropriate ways.

Some BLM members’ targeting and harassment of some young White cheerleaders in Louisville who were simply walking into a cheering competition in March was purely despicable. A woman on a megaphone yelled and claimed that, because of their white bows and white ribbons, the girls were displaying white privilege.

This was obviously an asinine and shameful comment to direct at these girls. It diminished BLM’s credibility while tarnishing the image of the movement.

Last week, we witnessed another unfortunate event by BLM members in Plano, Texas, when they blocked traffic on a major road while protesting the death of Marvin Scott III, who died in police custody. The Collin County, Texas, medical examiner ruled Scott died from a “fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement.”

Video footage of the scene shows police officers doing nothing but standing there as these protesters blocked the major thoroughfare in that city.

The problem is not only were the police standing there doing nothing and BLM members were blocking a major road and backing up traffic, but police officers were witnessing an unlawful assembly.

One protester of Scott’s death, identified as Quincy Okafor of DeSoto, recently told county commissioners that he understands the actions of the protesters are “risky.”

Collin County Judge Chris Hill corrected him, saying the actions of the protesters were illegal.

“You mentioned what you’re doing is risky,” he responded. “I’ll just point out what you’re doing, actually, is illegal, but thank you for your comments.”

Hill is correct.

The actions of BLM and other groups on this highway were in fact illegal.

Currently, the Texas offense of Obstructing Highway or Other Passageway makes it illegal to obstruct a highway or “other passageway” without legal privilege or authority. The offense is a Class B misdemeanor.

Illegal obstruction could soon step up to a felony charge after legislation was passed in one body of the Texas state legislature. It passed in the House and is expected to pass in the Senate.

If signed into law, those who break it could do jail time for obstructing a roadway if it prevents the passage of an emergency vehicle or blocks a hospital entrance. Those convicted would have a felony on their record.

The message here for those who block roads and highways is that their illegal actions will not be tolerated. Certain elements of BLM would be wise in the future to look at the laws before they openly defy them.

Again, we believe most BLM members have good intentions, but yelling white privilege at young cheerleaders and putting lives at risk by blocking highways just give the group a bad image because it detracts from the message of justice they advocate.