The suspect in an attack against an elderly Filipino woman in San Diego has his first court appearance today.
The 35-year-old man is facing charges of assault and elder abuse, but not a hate crime. The attack is being seen as part of a string of attacks nationwide against Asian Americans that includes the death of an 84-year-old man in Northern California last month.
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Manjusha Kulkarni is the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council in Los Angeles and a Lecturer in the Asian American Studies Department of UCLA. She is also the co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate.
She joined Midday Edition on Tuesday to discuss how authorities can better keep track of hate crimes in the United States.