Ever since President Obama declared that immigration reform will not be a part of his legislative agenda until 2010, the Latino media have actively expressed their disappointment at this delay.

But perhaps postponing the immigration debate is actually a blessing in disguise.

The spectacle of those opposed to health care reform that we witness daily on television should give us pause and cause us to evaluate if it would really be the best moment to wage this battle.

I do not think that it is.

Something is happening that is a little frightening. I am not talking about the angry, badly informed people who are making it impossible to have a rational discussion of health care reform in the so-called town hall meetings sponsored by their members of Congress.

There is something else. There is a huge fear of change. There is great uncertainty about the loss of jobs and the future of the economy. There is, beneath this fear and uncertainty, deep unease about the fact that – let us be frank – we have an African-American president of this nation, and in some 20 years, white people will be the minority.

Many people feel that the world as they know it is slipping away before their eyes. And someone, eventually, will have to pay the price, possibly with their life.

Private militias are already recruiting members in Ohio and other states. Some fanatics accuse members of Congress and even the president of wanting to impose socialism in America, while carrying firearms.

Imagine if in this moment we bring in the topic of amnesty for the undocumented. I have no doubt that blood would run in the streets.

I believe that we have to make an effort to gain sympathy and support from a large sector of the American people before introducing an immigration reform law. Not only by identifying the contributions made by honest hardworking undocumented immigrants, but also defining and clearing up doubts about the established Latino community.

What is certain is that for "nativists," xenophobes, and the ignorant, there is no difference between the documented and the undocumented. They see us all as undesirable foreigners.

They do not know what a Latino is, when we came here, what we are doing here. They do not know that there are millions of Latino citizens as Americans as any of them.

Let us hope that the organizations in favor of immigration reform will use better spokespeople to express themselves correctly and that programs like Latino in America that CNN will present in the fall will contribute to preparing the field and lowering tempers before introducing the bill next year.

It is in all of our best interest.