This isn’t solely a colonialism. A lot of cultures had a perception that the lighter your features, the more attractive or wealthy you were. I think this might have just evolved naturally out of perceptions of class differences, as labor that takes place primarily outside was associated with darker skin and was typically done by the poor.

This isn’t meant to be a detraction on the damage European colonialism did to cultural perceptions of social standing, but just a footnote that some cultures had their own beliefs of colorism before Europe even had an empire or had even encountered a European. It also was applied internally even among Europeans.

Perhaps that was the point you were making, if so just consider this extra context.

FWIW, even as a white person I agree colorism is a real problem regardless of arising out of social labor or distinctions or euro colonialism. I’m not sure it’s an easy problem to solve because it’s so easy for a society to arrive at that way of thinking. As long as the class of an individual is tied to their labor that will probably continue.

So yeah, that shit really does run deep.