Chaske Spencer Shares His Struggle with Substance Abuse with College Students

Star of the “Twilight” saga Chaske Spencer spoke about his battles with racism, alcohol and drugs at the Illini Union yesterday, sponsored by the Illini Union Board and the Native American House.
Born in Oklahoma, he didn’t move to a Native American reservation until later on in his childhood, where he didn’t make an immediate fit, he said.
“They teased me for being an apple. White on the inside, red on the outside, and I didn’t understand that,” Spencer said.
With a father for an alcoholic, he fell into a crowd of other youths from dysfunctional homes, he said.
After checking into rehab, Spencer turned a complete 180 degrees. In rehab they showed him a video of Native Americans and alcohol, where he realized what a struggle alcoholism was for his people. He said much of the reason is because of their displacement.
He has used his starpower to start the organization Shift the Power, which puts spotlight on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Thirteen thousand of these people are without power, heat and water due to their water infrastructure.
“It was one of the worst catastrohpes since Katrina, but the mainstream media didn’t pick it up,” he said.
Denise Poindexter, program adviser with the Illini Union Board, said her favorite part of Spencer’s speech was “the fact that he was open and honest about his past.”

Go to  DailyIllini to read the entire article.