If Tuesday’s rally in Marshall Park against CMS teacher layoffs was meant to send a message to school officials, one can only imagine what message they received.

As numbers go, the rally was a bust.

When protesters crossed Third Street to storm the school board meeting, they were embarrassingly outnumbered by Mint Hill parents who showed up in mobs to protest a new high school reassignment plan.

What gives?

Four years ago a judge accused Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools of committing “academic genocide” against students who attend high-poverty schools. For the most part, that means black people.

Truth be told, I’m not hugely surprised that more didn’t show. As black Americans, we’ve lost the art of protest.

When King and others won our civil rights, they brandished two weapons woefully missing in many of today’s civil actions.

They had a compelling message and the powerful conviction of indisputable right.

That’s not to say that Tuesday’s protest leaders weren’t just in their demands; it’s simply that their message got muddled.

In a district where half of all black boys who start first grade won’t graduate high school, our gripe with CMS must never be reduced to jobs and teachers. Layoffs are a sad reality in every industry today.

Likewise, when state and local budgets are being slashed from California to Connecticut, we can’t pretend that money doesn’t matter. Nor can we afford to dwell on “process.”

Something is stirring in Charlotte. Black parents are angry in hordes over the direction of our schools and the academic failures of our children.

Any leader seeking to change CMS must first win the support of parents, and that means articulating a clear message that reflects their true concerns.