Culture is definitely the problem. It’s a “culture” that existed among lower-class, mostly rural Southern blacks who had migrated to Northern cities during and after WWII. It would have died out simply because no “culture” can survive with such a lack of values: no culture can survive without work, family, communication skills, a respect for law and the rejection of crime, and a host of other things that we take for granted in any functioning social group.
It only survived artificially because black ghettos became the ultimate petrie dish for US liberal dreams of a totally state-supported and state-managed population. So ghetto black culture has been artificially maintained for 50 years now (several generations, especially with the early-childbearing of blacks) and is now taken as the norm for all black Americans. This idea, btw, is reinforced by popular culture, which promotes the image in everything from rap music to sneaker sales, much of which actually benefits well-off whites such as the bigwigs in the media.
Part of the "culture" issue is low income housing. Housing projects ensure that children from dysfunctional families are surrounded by other dysfunctional families. There are no role models. There are no men of strong character and good habits. All the young children see are druggies, pimps and losers.