I'm not surprised at all. it's very popular in the Asian Pacific and moderately popular in South/Central American countries. In the Asian Pacific, it's all about not looking like a poor pesant (the poor mostly work outside and thus have deeper tans...thus, dark skin is associated with poor labor and is consequently less desirable. In South/Central America, they deal with the same issue North America deals with. the children of the slaves and natives vs. the children of Europeans and how that played out historically to value light skin as "better". It got ingrained in the culture just as it has in the US and its effects are wide and far-reaching.
also see:
Slammin' Sammy.
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/7374/sammysosapic234x314.jpg[IMG] [IMG]http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/623/sammysosaskinpicture229.jpg[IMG]
Fried hair and all. [B] I believe Sammy is Dominican.[/B][/QUOTE]
Self hate is really prevalent amongst black dominicans.