When COVID-19 testing became more available in Tuscaloosa last spring, community advocates like Judith Zambrano worried that Latino residents weren’t getting tested.
Some people were afraid of finding out they might be positive. Others didn’t have time off work or the transportation to get to test sites. Many were nervous about identification or insurance questions, Zambrano explained.
Holy Spirit Catholic Church of Tuscaloosa, which holds services in Spanish, responded by hosting drive-through test centers in the late afternoon hours of summer.
“We went over the amount of tests we had and it went on until night time,” said Zambrano, who is an organizer with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice and a Holy Spirit parishioner. “It was successful because people put a lot of trust in the church. Often more than they do in a doctor they’ve never met.”
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Selma Jubilee plans to go virtual in 2021
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
Posted Dec 17, 2020
The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma was the site of famous civil rights marches in 1965. (Photo by Greg Garrison/AL.com)Greg Garrison/AL.com
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For its 56th anniversary and the first time ever, the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee will be a virtual online event in 2021 as it commemorates the civil rights marches of 1965.
Organizers are lining up participants including Sheyann Webb-Christberg, co-author of the memoir “Selma, Lord, Selma.” She was the youngest marcher in 1965. Her book, co-written with fellow marcher Rachel West and Birmingham News reporter the late Frank Sikora, was made into a 1999 Disney TV movie with the same title.