For decades, the definition of success for Asian Americans was limited to a hyper-focus on academics and extracurriculars like music instead of sports; being high achievers in fields like medicine, law, and engineering; as well as an ascension in economic status through hard work and education. This was true of many Asian-Americans, but far from all of them, especially among new immigrants and refugees, whose experiences were often made invisible. Media coverage often focused on these limited examples of success that flattened the huge diversity within Asian-American groups and the history of immigration in the country. This arguably originated in popular thought via a 1966 article for The New York Times Magazine , in which sociologist William Petersen described his astonishment about how more than 110,000 Japanese Americans had “risen above” their crushing experience of internment during WWII. While flattering on a superficial level, Petersen began a persistent trend that used this myth of the resilient, hard-working Asian immigrant to discredit the Black civil rights movement and downplay the real effects of systemic discrimination against other marginalized minority groups. Moreover, while these model minority stereotypes may appear to be a positive portrait, many Asian Americans who do not fit this limited frame often feel like failures or outliers.