SI.com · Jun 18, 2020
'I Could Have Been Just Like George'
Nothing about Leon Buchanan changed except his uniform.
Eleven years ago, Buchanan was admired for leading Morehead State to its first NCAA tournament in a quarter-century, and he became the first member of his family to graduate from college. Now he is a police officer in Lexington, an hour away from his alma mater. Earlier this month, while he worked a Black Lives Matter protest, Buchanan, who is Black, was called a traitor and told that he should be ashamed of himself.
He has heard worse. Last year, he tracked down a young girl—“12 or 13,” he says—who had run away from home, only to find that she was terrified of him. He asked why.