I wonder if we aren't seeing cultural or psych behaviors left over from the days of the Mali Empire.
Some of these things, like the constantly seeking a Big Man to rule over them and otherwise shunning responsibility (and all that that entails), might have been common coin in the days when Jenne Jenno was the biggest town or city in western "Black Africa".
One thing European sociologists have noticed is the lack, in Jenne Jenno, of "social complexity": i.e., the society was very "flat" and egalitarian, with few markers of gazoot and social superiority.
This is important, because that society lasted until recently enough to have left a deep mark on African socialization and, by extension, African-American thinking and values.
By comparison, 800 years ago, Englishmen were full up to their noses in social distinction, Norman vs. Saxon, French-speaking vs. English, Plantagenet vs. everybody else.
At this time 800 years ago, the fascination of Englishmen was the protection of their rights, especially their right to hold property (against royal or noble disseizin, viz. confiscation), and they were busily shoving Magna Carta up King John's nose.
I wouldn’t go that far back....what we deal with here in the US is the past history of slavery....which they cannot let go of and continue to this day to wine about. It’s taught to their children and made to be a part of their overall mindset....rather than show the culture what they can do today in a free country.
Don’t forget, many of the slaves were captured in the “bush” where blacks had minimal “civilization”. The black cities and coastal towns were transit points for captured slaves who would have been of a different tribe, and therefore of no interest to the city rulers. In addition, slave marketers soon learned to avoid single tribe batches of slaves as they could communicated too easily. A place in our south is called Ibo landing because an entire shipload of chained Ibos marched into the sea upon landing and drowned themselves rather than be slaves. By splitting them up blacks lost their native languages and traditions, and from lack of education here they retained many “primitive” behaviors. Music was one broadly available cultural artifact that they could do together, and they often do it well. Even “house” slaves only learned surface skills like cooking, sewing, entertaining, etc., which they also often do quite well today. The “important” work like bookkeeping, plantation management and the like were always done by whites.