I am thinking how it unjustly hurts people from the rest of the American continent.

Here in Canada, we call people from the USA “Americans”. There’s no confusion, and if you called a Canadian “American” they would correct you immediately. If you explained you meant it in reference to the continent of North America they would still insist that you don’t. It may be technically correct, but it would be frowned upon. We appreciate your consideration, but the word is firmly their word, at least to us. “North American” would be fine, though.