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.