It doesn't and I tried to make that clear by starting off with 'yes'. Not everyone (I hope) is always trying to argue and invalidate someone else. I know that's

It doesn't and I tried to make that clear by starting off with 'yes'. Not everyone (I hope) is always trying to argue and invalidate someone else. I know that's kind of the default position in a conversation, especially online where people don't have any sense that they're speaking to an actual human being. Recipients shouldn't always take the position of sensitivity and assume everyone is attacking either (I'm frequently guilty of that). I just wanted the inclusion that it's not a US phenomenon by any means. Preference for lighter skin applies in many places without whites at all, including places like Japan. This country didn't spring from pure evil, and definitely not in a vacuum. I'm unsure there's a place where darker skin is actually desired or socially preferable. Even in Africa. You may be punished for being white in some places, perhaps out of the fact you're clearly a foreigner or maybe out of historical resentment. But I've never personally seem a place where being darker is actually preferred or rewarded other than artificial mechanisms which attempt to counteract this natural phenomenon.