Philadelphia magazine created quite a controversy last month when it published a cover story by Bob Huber on white residents of that city and their views on race. The piece was brutally honest and jarring in some places. It produced several comments from white Philadelphians that were wrongheaded, a few that were outright bigoted, and many that were genuinely thought-provoking.

But the piece did something positive and noteworthy just by forcing white Americans to talk about and think about a subject they are painfully reluctant to confront.