My daughter, JJ, had a substitute teacher that we nicknamed Racist Spanish Sub.

For example, I would ask her how her day went, and she would reply, “Racist Spanish Sub was there. Other than that, it was fine.”

This teacher earned his nickname over time.

The first day he subbed, he went through the attendance list. When he reached an Asian student–there were 3 Asians and 32 Caucasians in the class–he asked the student if she spoke another language at home. He did not ask any of the white students if they spoke other languages.

JJ replied that no, she did not speak any other language at home. That evening she asked me if the sub’s actions were racist.

I answered the way I always do: “Maybe.” According to the 2010 census, 77% of Asian-Americans speak a language other than English at home. (Yes, I happen to have those kinds of facts in my head at any random moment.)

Maybe the sub was being a jerk, and maybe he was just playing the odds.

Then the sub returned a second time. While the students were busy working individually, the sub approached JJ. He perched on the desk in front of her, put his hands under his chin, and spoke to her in a language that was neither English nor Spanish.

JJ stared at him a moment, then told him that she only spoke English and Spanish. He sat there. She went back to her work. He finally went away.

Thereafter he became known as Racist Spanish Sub. If he hadn’t approached JJ the second time, we would have assumed that his intentions were benign. But after that second day, I found his actions creepy as well as racist.

My reaction was to, as my grandmother used to say, go through him like Sherman through Georgia, but JJ insisted that I let her handle it herself. Racist Spanish Sub returned only once more, then school ended.

How would you have handled that interaction?

Do you consider his actions racist?

[This post originally appeared on The Socratic Project.]