Colorism seems to date back to Colonialism. Every culture the Europeans conquered suffered from this mindset because the whites of that time imposed their cultural values, including a love of pale skin and a devaluing of dark skin - onto them. The evidence is incontrovertible: the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America grant the highest social and financial awards to those of their ilk who have the palest skin, loosest hair and whitest features. Those are the people who tend to hold the most power. People from all those countries habitually use bleaching cream on their skin, too, despite the health risks. And of course America is no exception, although, thankfully, that trend
seems to be changing a little. But really. Look at what was done to slaves. The lighter slaves breastfed the master's children and took up as house maids (and mistresses) while darker slaves endured hard days of labor in the cotton fields. Not to mention there was
placage in New Orleans.
No one seems satisfied sometimes. Somehow it's like people want to look traditionally/acceptably attractive, and yet they also want to look just "exotic" enough to be perceived as different or "special" from everyone else
