RISING VOICES THE Q+A: JORDAN GOMES ’08 AND AARON MULLEN, Director of Inclusion & Student Life
THE INSTANT I WAS ASKED TO DEVELOP A CATHEDRAL ALUM STORY, I WAS OVERWHELMED WITH THE MANY FACES THAT CAME TO MIND. As I filed through my mental alumni Rolodex, I thought to myself, what is the main ingredient of a great story? Is there a story that would capture our community’s attention? And poof! I got it, Jordan Gomes. The right story at the right time. In addition to being recognized in the local rap scene over the last few years, Jordan recently starred in the film, The Last Black Man in San Francisco—playing himself, a member of the “Greek Chorus.” The film adeptly touches upon the challenges presented by modern gentrification. This highly-acclaimed film won two Sundance Film Awards in 2019. Let’s learn more.
Aaron Mullen (AM): Before we get deep in this interview, how is your mom doing? I recall her as a woman with a beautiful soul. Jordan Gomes (JG): My mom is doing well. She’s full of life and still being the best she can be. AM: How did your mom introduce you to Cathedral School for Boys? JG: Well, I wouldn’t say that my mom introduced me to Cathedral; she more so instilled in me the discipline to be ready for a life-changing opportunity like attending Cathedral. Every day my mom kept me on a schedule, and the most critical part of that schedule was what I did after-school. I was either at an after-school program or playing sports, and at periods when my mother wasn’t working, she was the after-school program. She would make me do my homework as soon as I got home and frequently right after my homework was done she would make sure I was stimulated in some way, like through sports. This consistency of focusing on academics and keeping a stable household, allowed me to excel at school. My third-grade teacher Ms. Jacobson noticed I was performing well at school and asked my mom if she might submit an application for me to the SMART program. Once SMART accepted me, they recommended I attend Cathedral. I remember my mom asking me at the time, “Jordan, how do you feel about going to an all-boys school”? And then, the next minute, I was wearing a tie. Wearing a tie was foreign to me, but for a young, talkative and boisterous Jordan, the structure of Cathedral proved necessary during this period in my life. AM: I recall you and Anton Doty as being the only African American students in your class. Are you still in touch with him? JG: Anton and his family were really cool. His family was my first contact in this new world. We are both Black and stepped into this new place together. The pairing, at first, was intriguing because we didn’t have the same interests, culturally, however, we did have a similar understanding about what it is like to be Black. His family exposed me to a new perspective in life that
I didn’t know existed. I remember in 2006 something as simple as going to their house for the first time blew me away. It was the first time I saw a loft and realized that people are living in a whole different world than I am. Although Anton and I are different people, he and I share a bond like no other. Another person who I have a unique bond with was Patrick Fung. He and I were different races, but underneath it all, we were brothers. Even though I don’t speak to them nearly as much as I should, I am thankful to have known them. AM: You used to live on Haight at Webster during your CSB years. How did you manage to navigate two different cultures? JG: I have spent most of my life on Haight at Webster, and when I applied to Cathedral, I was living there, but just as I was stepping into a new academic environment, my home environment changed as well. My mom got approved for public housing, and we moved to Hunters Point that summer before I started at Cathedral.This was a pivotal time in my life. For the three years following my acceptance, every day, I lived on both ends of the spectrum. I didn’t know how to feel about this constant change to my environment initially, but the separation from my comfort zone gave me a feeling of irritability. I spent my first year often polarized to the opposite end of each environment. It put me in a mental limbo that constantly had me looking for who I was as a sixth and seventh grader. I thought I didn’t have anybody who could relate to my situation, so I held in a lot. At the time, I was living in what was considered to be the worst neighborhood in the City while going to school in one of the most prestigious ones. It was mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologi- cally exhausting. In my neighborhood, I was the private school kid hanging out with white people. At Cathedral, I was one of the only Black kids. Living in two completely different worlds had me constantly code-switching, and ultimately, creating a kind of double consciousness. In time, I learned different positive coping mechanisms to help deal with the internal battle I was facing.
Community activist, educator, actor, and rapper, Jordan Gomes’08 sits down with Aaron Mullen, Director of Inclusion & Student Life for a Q&A session about Jordan’s Cathedral School experience and beyond.
34 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
FALL 2020 • RED & GOLD | 35
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