Escaping addiction and racism
Chris Buckley, of LaFayette, Ga., is a volunteer at The Haven and a motivational speaker. Once a member of the KKK and a drug addict, he is now 18 months clean and sober. He now speaks out against hate crime and tirelessly works every day to help those who are abusing substances to improve their lives.
“I did thirteen years in the Army and spent much of that time deployed overseas. When I was in Afghanistan, I sustained a back injury. Because of this, I had my first introduction to painkillers. That’s when the spiral started.”
“I was dealing with severe PTSD. I didn’t like crowds of people or being in public because I expected something bad to happen; that’s what always happened in Afghanistan. On top of that, I’d been taken off my prescribed pain pills by my doctor, but by that point I was already addicted and began to seek out the same drugs illegally.
“There was one dude I hung out with most of the time when I was deployed from the Army. I wasn’t much for socializing, as I felt a sense of abandonment from losing my friends in the military. But I hung out sometimes with this dude. A good portion of our social interaction was playing Call of Duty online in separate homes, which I was fine with.
“One day he came over and invited me out to a bar. I said ‘No, I don’t feel like being out in a crowd.’ He replied ‘Okay, but will you come out if I do this pain pill with you?’ I told him I would do the pain pill with him, but I still wouldn’t go out. So we did it, but what I didn’t realize was that it was methamphetamine. At that point I became more attached to meth and started doing it socially for a few months. Before long, I was addicted.”
With a deep sigh and shifting his weight due to his sustained back injury, Chris continued. “Not too long after that, I was arrested and taken in. When I was released, I tried to get my life back on track and be a good dad to my kids. I noticed in the media many attacks on Confederate monuments and Southern heritage.
“I googled these things and found the KKK. This organization was full of drugs, and you could get whatever you wanted through these people. I became involved with the KKK, taking part in all sorts of racist activities, which I am not proud of.
“One morning I woke up thinking about my identity and realized that I was identified as a drug-addicted racist. I didn’t want to be that; even more I really didn’t want that for my kids. Now I am involved as a volunteer at The Haven (a local ministry that helps homeless and drug addicts).
“It laid the groundwork for me to be able to work with addicts and substance abusers that need help, and helped me to become a responsible and contributing member of my community. I became the parent I was supposed to be. They say it takes a village, and this is ours. I’m the father and man I always was supposed to be.”
Chris now works with Dr. Haval Kelley, an Islamic Syrian refugee-turned-cardiologist on a program called Help, Heal, Love. Their goal is to repair flawed thinking in hate groups and spread a message of love. They recently spoke together in Newnan, Ga., on Sunday, March 10, at Wadsworth Auditorium.
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