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<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, ‘Times New Roman’, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;">By Chocl8t. Guest Writer for OHN.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #2361a1; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://ohellnawlblog.com/newohnblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/3-8.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15925" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: auto; display: block; float: none; clear: both; padding: 0px; border: initial none initial;" title="3-8" src="http://ohellnawlblog.com/newohnblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/3-8.jpg&quot; alt="3-8" width="459" height="527" /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;">I gave myself the name Chocl8t. It came out of a need to celebrate and embrace my dark brown skin and to finally accept it as a positive attribute of my physical appearance.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #2361a1; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://ohellnawlblog.com/newohnblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/tarbaby1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-15921" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 4px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 4px; float: left; padding: 0px; border: 24px solid black;" title="tarbaby1" src="http://ohellnawlblog.com/newohnblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/tarbaby1.jpg&quot; alt="tarbaby1" width="240" height="180" /></a>I thought I would make it through my blogging life without writing about this. However Senator Harry Ried had to open his big fat mouth leading to everyone else weighing in on the, often times, touchy issue of &ldquo;complexion&rdquo; within the Black race. Allison Samuels hits many of the salient points in her article at Newsweek. (Click HERE to read) The subject is as old as slavery itself and for me it hits uncomfortably close to home.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;">For longer than I care to admit I did not look at my dark skin as a good thing. In fact, I was 18 or 19 yrs old before I really &ldquo;looked&rdquo; at myself in the mirror. How could that be you ask? Let&rsquo;s go back to New Orleans, circa 1970s.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;">I was growing up in a city steeped in racial prejudice &ndash; racial prejudice within the black community. The same city that had black &ldquo;social&rdquo; clubs and bars that you could not gain entry if you were darker than a brown paper bag. This was before my time but the attitudes remained.<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />I have memories of the little school boys who flocked to the lighter skinned girls in school, little girls like Tanya Graham with her cafe au-lait colored skin and baby doll like hair. The boys were mesmerized by her. It remained the same through junior and senior high&hellip;.different girls but the same &ldquo;look&rdquo;.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #2361a1; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" href="http://ohellnawlblog.co