Skin colour is just a colour, it can't be a merit scale.
Out of a variegated mélange of 7 billion beings on earth, it is surely not fair to expect everyone to have a light-coloured skin tone. Human skin colour varies because of the variation in pigmentation of our skin and exposure to sun rays entering our skin cells. Basically, a pigment called 'melanin' mainly determines the skin colour of a human being which is present in a cell called 'melanocyte'. Moreover, as we are aware that people residing near the equator receive more sunlight and thus tend to have a darker skin tone. Therefore, we can infer that human skin colour is just a biological and geographical factor and has nothing to do with a person's social position. Skin colour is not what you have earned but what you have inherited from your surrounding conditions. So this may clear the majority of the misconceptions people have.
What we define as skin, is just a cover of a beautiful being. What really matters is invisible to the eyes.
I expect everyone to be aware of the fact that the colour of the skin does not affect its function at all such as protection against injuries, harmful substances and loss of moisture etc. It just affects the human brain as for them, it acts as an obstacle to their imaginary vision where everyone should look in a specific way. So skin colour in reality is not a problem but our mindset is.
In the country where the majority of the people residing are dark-complexioned -India, this concept of white supremacy is normalized to an extent that in most of their matrimonial ads, the requirements are of a bride having light coloured skin. This whole idea dates back to the colonial period where the Britishers, who were white, ruled. As they ruled, they were considered to be supreme; from back then, the majority of people have this prejudice in their minds. There's another reason for this, which is that before people considered from the upper caste were white mostly. There was a theory that they usually stayed inside so because of less exposure to sunlight they were fairer than the rest of the society. On the other hand, poor people from the lower caste usually stayed out and laboriously worked which meant considerable exposure to sunlight, making their skin complexion darker. It has also been said that during the Mughal era, the emperors who ruled were fairer than the native Indians which again signalled this theory of colourism that the white is supreme.
This prejudice has detrimental effects, especially on women. Some companies form women’s complexion as the basis of their employment rather than their capabilities. This forces most of them to use skin bleaching products neglecting its aftereffects. In my own experience, I have seen a lot of spendthrifts squandering their money on laser treatments and other sorts of surgeries. That is the major reason why skin whitening creams are thriving here.
In simple terms, it is just that neither black nor white can be considered as supreme as our criteria of judgement should not be skin colour. So, it is a very unfair obsession to expect everyone to be fair. Skin is just a natural element and let's not make it a blemish ever!