America is a theocracy. Its god is money.
Until the country as a whole confronts that provable fact, literally every single other grotesque, cruel, incalculably unfair facet of its society is doomed to continue exactly as it always has.

If the US wants to clutch its pearls and cry "how could we let this happen?!", build your democracy around something other than money. Because money is what brought you here and the rest of the world is disgusted and dismayed to see it.