I don't think comparisons to "other affluent countries" are apt; the socioeconomic and cultural makeup of the United States is so starkly different from pretty much any other country (even our immediate neighbors to the north and south).
In particular, the institution of slavery and perhaps even more so, the culture of segregation, condescension, and disdain that followed from The Reconstruction onwards resulted in such drastic dehumanization, disenfranchisement, and demoralization of a huge percentage of the population that has not been seen anywhere else in the world.
No solution can be drafted that does not address this ugly stain on our history (continuing to the present) and still ever hope to work, and whitewashing history books and tiptoeing around this elephant in the room in the name of political correctness does us all a disservice.
It's been seen plenty of places in the world. Probably most, by area anyway. There are still places where a significant portion of the population are not only disdained and disenfranchised, but actively killed without much consequence: the Rohingya for a current example, or the lowest castes in India
In particular, the institution of slavery and perhaps even more so, the culture of segregation, condescension, and disdain that followed from The Reconstruction onwards resulted in such drastic dehumanization, disenfranchisement, and demoralization of a huge percentage of the population that has not been seen anywhere else in the world.
No solution can be drafted that does not address this ugly stain on our history (continuing to the present) and still ever hope to work, and whitewashing history books and tiptoeing around this elephant in the room in the name of political correctness does us all a disservice.