Let this white boy preach about Theo for a moment

I’ve seen a lot of my black friends, especially those around my age, sharing in recent days about how the shocking drowning death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner — best known to most of us as “Theo” from “The Cosby Show” — impacted them. 

They talked about how they could relate to Theo and how great it was to see the way the Huxtable family was portrayed on TV — as an ordinary family with ordinary issues, good and bad. Some felt seen for the first time by white America. Some felt represented for the first time.

Now, it’s time to give the “white” perspective. I may be somewhere between transparent and pink, but I identify as white, and some of my best friends are white. I get white people. So, allow me to white-splain this loss for a moment.

My family watched “The Cosby Show.” Everybody I knew watched “The Cosby Show” at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. However, I’ve got news for all the folks who were so happy to see a black family represented on television in a very normal way:

We didn’t see a black family. We just saw a family. In hindsight, what we didn’t notice was what made it a more beautiful show.

I’m sure there was plenty of talk on the news and entertainment shows about how the show broke down racial barriers. I’m sure there were some white racists in my town who cut the TV off when the Huxtables came on. I’m sure there were some black folks who thought the Huxtables were “acting too white.” But, for this average white boy, I forgot to notice they were black. I just saw a family, a funny one and a loving one at that.

I think that was the case for the vast majority of white folks back then — especially the kids my age. I could relate to so much of what Theo went through from school troubles to girl issues. I could imagine being friends with Theo — and I was every Thursday night at 8 p.m. in the mid- to late-1980s.

Granted, I may have missed some of the racial issues because I was distracted. While Theo might have been my friend, I was in love with Denise Huxtable. Then again, so were most boys my age whether they were white, black, Hispanic, Martian or Inuit.

I miss the show. Since all the stuff with Bill Cosby came out, it lost a lot of its luster for many. It’s still hard for me to separate the real man from Dr. Heathcliff, and I imagine many people feel the same. Had it not been for the revelations, that show would be on 78 channels every day in reruns. That’s a shame because the show was great.

I just wanted my black friends of a certain age — mine — to know that you’re not alone in mourning this loss. We may have seen Theo Huxtable through different eyes, but we all saw him as the same friend.