Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2019

Equity
& Justice
An Interview by Nicole Thompson,
Lower School Director
This fall, we welcomed Emily Chávez
to Duke School as the first Director
of Equity & Justice!
Q. What conversations did you have at an early
age that helped shape who you are today?
A. First, I would say that my conversations with
my mom were important in shaping me into who I
am today. My mom encouraged me to talk about
my feelings. She always expressed that she loved
me unconditionally, even when I made mistakes.
She also listened to me. If I wanted to try a new
activity, she would try to give me the chance to
experience it if she could.
My conversations with my paternal grandmother,
my Mamá Geno, also influenced me to be
who I am. What was important about these
conversations is that they were beyond verbal
language. My Mamá Geno only spoke Spanish.
Growing up, I only spoke English (I learned
Spanish later). I met my Mamá Geno when I
was seven years old, and she lived with us for a
while. We communicated through hand gestures,
through laughter, and through the Peruvian food
she would cook for me that I ate and loved. She
would speak to me in Spanish, and even though I
didn’t understand her words, I felt them. So, while
I love words, I also learned that communication is
so much beyond words; it is tactile, it is sensory.
People communicate love in many ways beyond
what is spoken.
Q. Why is it important to engage young children
in conversations about equity and justice?
A. Young children are learning to name or
indicate what they feel, think and need. They are
learning to put language to the nuances of their
human experience. They experience and witness
equity and inequity, justice and injustice, and we
can help them to articulate what they observe and
know by engaging them in conversations about
privilege, unfairness, diversity, and their identities
and communities. Racism, heterosexism, classism
and other systems of oppression thrive on silence.
When we talk to kids about these topics—even
when it’s uncomfortable or awkward—we show
children that it is important to do so.
Children are also agents of change. By talking to
kids about issues related to equity and justice, we
can impart the importance of standing up and
doing what is right even if others do not stand up
with you.
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