Media General profiles North Richmond native’s rise in Obama administration
Media General’s Washington Bureau recently profiled Melody Barnes, a Northside native who is gearing up to join the Obama administration as director of the Domestic Policy Council. That sense of fairness and Barnes’ passion for civil rights comes from a warm family and diverse community upbringing in Richmond’s North Side, she said. Barnes, who is black, attended […]
Media General’s Washington Bureau recently profiled Melody Barnes, a Northside native who is gearing up to join the Obama administration as director of the Domestic Policy Council.
That sense of fairness and Barnes’ passion for civil rights comes from a warm family and diverse community upbringing in Richmond’s North Side, she said.
Barnes, who is black, attended a segregated elementary school in first grade, and has said she experienced racism as a child and discrimination applying for a mortgage in Alexandria in the 1990s.
On Capitol Hill, she found a meritocracy.
“People judge you based on the way you carry yourself,” she said. “For me, I was there to do a job.”
Friends say she still refers to Richmond as home, and it’s not uncommon to hear her say “we Southerners think…” during a policy debate.
She travels to her childhood home for birthdays and holidays – and the occasional shopping trip to her favorite clothing boutique on River Road.
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