Recently, a documentary staring Chris Rock came out, called
Good Hair. It reportedly came about because his daughter asked him, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" The movie talks about the perception that African-Americans don't have the right hair, as well as the markets that try to "correct" the bad hair that African-Americans are born with.
The movie, in a way, is about why black women want straight hair, which they typically do not have.
That is the exact same thing as Asians wanting to look paler. Blacks aren't being racist, and they don't want to throw away their heritage. There's a look that a lot of them don't have, that a lot of them want. Same deal with the Asians who want paler skin.