Henna

This happened in the Wig dorm of Pomona's campus. When I was a freshman, I had a white roommate, and I am a black woman with a medium skin tone. One day, the school hired a Henna artist to decorate hands for a de-stress event in the dorm, and I paused in my room on the way to the event. I walked in and told my roommate about the event, mentioning that there was henna, smoothies, candy, etc. She looks up at me and asks "Will henna even show up on you?" I was caught off guard by this question, and just answered yes, and walked out. I mentioned it to the black women who I was hanging out with at this event, and they were astounded. They immediately pointed out the absurdity of the question, stating that henna had been invented by dark skinned people of color, and this girl must've really thought it was for white people. She clearly didn't think before she spoke in that moment, and it just makes me wonder what kind of knowledge is valued at these institutions. She's a smart girl, but I feel like too many people wonder that type of thing at these colleges. To be honest, that question showed a huge lack of knowledge and/or interest in the regions of the world where henna comes from, but it's also almost common sense knowledge that henna comes from brown communities.