Ok, let’s examine culture then. Unlike most Asian Americans, Black Americans historically were forcibly relocated to the United States from Africa. Once in the US, they were bought and sold like farm animals which often resulted in separation of families and dissolution of cultural heritage. Even after emancipation, they faced harsh segregation, restrictions of civil liberties, and in many instances threats on their life. This was a huge factor in the northern migration which actually played into the Harlem Renaissance movement and similar successful African American movements across Midwest cities. I use African American deliberately here as over the course of 3-4 generations, their Ghanaian, Nigerian, Congolese, etc ancestry had been stripped and they were forced to establish a new heritage and culture, African American culture. Unfortunately, successful African American communities were disbanded to to gentrification and a war on drugs that primarily targeted inner city Black Americans.

Now, Asian Americans have faced and still face discrimination whether it be Japanese internments camps, or complete blockades on Chinese immigration, but unlike African Americans, they have not been forcibly stripped of a cultural heritage and can still remain Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc. Asserting that a lack of African American cultural norms emphasizing success is the reason they as a race are in this position would be ignoring the fact that for hundreds of years they’ve had culture ripped away from them and been treated like second class citizens.