system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Do urban poor black youth have a harder time moving up than poor immigrant asian youth? Why?

When observing Asian immigrants (Chinese, Korean, Indian, Pakistani, etc), I see a lot of children of really poor immigrants who came here with nothing and worked as dishwashers, clerks, janitors, and other very difficult jobs, while having language problems (not knowing English [well]) - ending up with their kids being pharmacists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and moving the entire family up and out of poverty.

I get the sense that although this happens with African-American poor urban youth as well, it doesn't seem to be happening at the relative rate that one might expect if one knows English, already has an established network, and has had their family in the U.S. for many generations, but are faced with the same economic situations as the immigrants (unstable or low income).

Is there a reason why African-Americans poor urban youth aren't able to succeed at the relative rates of Asian immigrant poor urban youth? The latter's parents don't know the language, how the school system works, or how college works, and yet, seem to show a relatively higher rate of success.

Is it primarily discrimination? Is it that neighborhood violence has a greater role in holding back AA youth, but not Asian youth? Something related to family structures?

There must be a few key factors that make these two groups with the same economic conditions, but often not the same socio-geographic conditions different.


NOTE: Please no racist answers about biology or genetics. If that's what you have in mind, there are other forums for you filled with people who marry their sisters.
gpt
Well, that's a very broad claim, but i think i get your meaning. 

One factor that you don't seem to acknowledge is the cultural differences. A poor immigrant left their country for a reason. They came here to either succeed themselves, or give their children a better life. They are likely to have hope, otherwise they wouldn't have come to the U.S.  and they are likely to instill that hope in their children and to teach them the value of hard work. 

A person born into poverty in the U.S., regardless of their race, whose family has been here a couple generations is probably more likely to live in an environment that has all the trappings of American poor culture, which include drug abuse, physical and psychological abuse, a distrust and general disdain for education, and probably most importantly a deep, pervasive sense of hopelessness. Their parents couldn't succeed, and neither could their grandparents, so why should they? 

There are more environmental factors to consider as well, like the overall attitude of greed and self centeredness, the need for instant gratification, and the idea that everyone can be a famous "xxxxx" that are all pretty prevalent in American culture, so if your family is American, your me likely to be exposed to that. 



Tl;DR: It has nothing to do with race, but culture.