07/22/2025
The Gentle Giant
A poem and tribute to our beloved brother Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Today, we lost a gentle giant.
A man who won our hearts not by force, but by quiet grace.
From the very beginning, Malcolm-Jamal Warner reminded us that being calm, classy, sophisticated, and soulful could carry you far in life.
He was the soft-spoken strength behind a generation’s most beloved show.
We watched The Cosby Show and saw, for the first time, a world many of us had never known.
A Black family made up of doctors, lawyers, artists, and thinkers.
A household rooted in love, education, laughter, and dignity.
As children, we weren’t sure that kind of family even existed.
We didn’t think people could speak to each other that gently.
That siblings could disagree with love.
That fathers could discipline with warmth.
That young Black men like Theo Huxtable could grow into manhood with vulnerability and joy.
But Malcolm showed us it was possible.
And then he lived it—beyond the show.
In his poetry, in his music, in his commitment to excellence and privacy,
He never wavered from who he was.
Everything about him on screen felt real,
Because it was.
And everything he became after felt like a continuation of that truth.
He never chased noise. He stayed grounded.
He showed us that fame doesn’t have to strip away your soul.
Today, we mourn what feels unimaginable.
A loss that cuts through nostalgia, through childhood, through what we thought would always be.
My sincere prayers go out to his wife,
To his children,
To his family,
To everyone who loved him, worked beside him, and walked life with him.
This tragedy hit us hard.
Not just because of who he was on screen,
But because of who he remained when the cameras turned off.
We lost more than an actor.
We lost a presence.
A gentle, regal, beautiful soul who walked with dignity and reminded us
especially as Black boys and men
that you could be powerful without being loud, important without being arrogant,
respected without ever demanding it
Today, we sit in that grief
And we say goodbye
to a man who gave us more than entertainment
He gave us hope
He gave us another way to exist
Rest well, Malcolm.
You were everything we needed.
