Seventy-some years ago, local filmmaker Leya Hale’s grandparents met as students at the Sherman Institute in California.

The boarding school was one of many that Native kids, like Hale’s Diné grandparents, were forced to attend as part of federal assimilation programs, and the schools were notorious for abusive practices and harsh cultural suppression.

But these were not the stories Hale’s grandparents chose to tell about their education, said Hale, who’s Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota on her mother’s side and Diné on her father’s, and now works as a documentary producer for Twin Cities PBS in St. Paul. Instead of recounting the negative experiences, she said, they talked about the joy of meeting classmates from other tribal cultures and forming friendships through activities like dance and sports.

Leya Hale is a documentary producer for Twin Cities PBS in St. Paul. (Courtesy of Leya Hale)

This perspective also guides Hale’s upcoming TPT documentary “Medicine Ball,” which follows two Native basketball players at the University of Minnesota Morris, a campus that traces its own history back to a boarding school called the Morris Industrial School for Indians. In the documentary, the players — and the audience — learn about basketball’s historical and continuing importance to Native culture from Syd Beane, a local Flandreau Santee Sioux Dakota historian who grew up playing basketball in the boarding school system.

“This film is me carving out a little space for us to share those stories — resilient, hopeful stories — that came from that era,” Hale said. “It’s important to educate and bring awareness to the most awful things that occurred during that time. But it’s also for our own community’s sake to remember those good stories, because it’s those good stories that made us survive.”

Modern basketball was invented in the 1890s at a training school run by the organization then called the Young Men’s Christian Association (now the YMCA). Boarding school administrators, tasked with assimilating Native kids into white Christian American society, approved of the sport’s origins and hoped it would push kids to develop a religious sense of self-discipline.

Native students, for their part, also quickly embraced the game for its similarities to common tribal ball-and-basket sports they were familiar with.

Contrary to administrators’ hopes, basketball ultimately became a way for Native students to build camaraderie within an oppressive environment and strengthen a shared Native identity across tribal backgrounds, Beane said on an episode of the Minnesota Historical Society’s “Minnesota Unraveled” podcast.

The basketball court “was one of the places where the culture was retained,” he said. “It’s what saved them from that trauma.”

Hale’s film “Medicine Ball” is in post-production and is scheduled to premiere next year, though a specific release date has not yet been announced.

When it does premiere, though, it won’t be in the style of a traditional documentary, with talking-head interviews spliced alongside historical footage, Hale said. She wants to make the point that history can be a story, not a set of facts to memorize, so she said she tries to take a more contemporary cinematic approach.

“Even though we’re PBS, we don’t have to always produce traditional PBS films,” she said. “I really try to create films that take you on a journey. You’re feeling those ups and downs of someone’s life and you’re learning with them, and those types of stories really connect you to whatever you’re watching.”

A 6-year-old Leya Hale, front row on the right, stands with her family’s Eagle Spirit Dancers group in this family photo. Hale, now a documentary producer at Twin Cities PBS, makes films exploring various aspects of Native American history and culture. (Courtesy of Leya Hale)

Hale studied media and communications as an undergraduate in California and earned a master’s degree in American Indian Studies from the University of South Dakota, then moved to the Twin Cities for a job at the Division of Indian Work teaching an after-school program on producing TV public service announcements. In the early 2010s, she was hired as a temporary production assistant for the TPT documentary “The Past Is Alive Within Us: The US-Dakota Conflict,” and was ultimately promoted to co-producer and offered a full-time role creating original history documentaries at the station.

In contrast to a movie studio set, which might be supported by an entire production team, Hale is the primary writer, director, casting agent and business manager on her projects at TPT. It’s up to her to find ideas, secure funding and bring the story to screen.

“You have help all the way, but you’re the one leading it all,” she said. “We’re low budget here, we’re not Marvel Studios, so you have to stretch a dollar and make sure you’re telling the best story you can possibly tell with the amount of resources you’re able to obtain.”

That’s where organizations like Vision Maker Media come in. The nonprofit, which distributes grants to filmmakers like Hale who are telling stories of Native culture and history, has supported several of Hale’s films, including “Medicine Ball.”

But the funding landscape for public broadcasting has changed considerably over the past few months, making stories like “Medicine Ball” harder to tell, Hale said. Over the summer, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the nonprofit that directs federal money to public radio and television stations — was defunded and shuttered over alleged concerns of partisan bias.  This not only affected programming and staffing at local stations like TPT but also other organizations like Vision Maker, which received CPB funding.

In 2025, Hale was among 22 Indigenous filmmakers who received money through Vision Maker’s annual Public Media Fund to help with research and production costs; that pool of money, the organization says, is now empty.

Even if she has to be more creative in finding those resources, as she put it, the story Hale is telling in “Medicine Ball” — of Native young people, today just as in boarding schools a hundred years ago, finding basketball a symbol of hope and connectedness — remains important, she said.

“I was always taught that our people are resilient,” she said. “That in any situation we’re in, we always find the ability to share stories that help you through those negative experiences.”

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Free speech for me, not for thee.

That’s the oldest trick in the hypocrite’s playbook. And over the past few weeks, Republicans and Democrats have both taken a page from it.

Witness recent events at Rutgers University following the murder of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA. The group’s Rutgers chapter circulated a petition demanding that the university fire history professor Mark Bray for his alleged links to antifa, a left-wing anti-fascist movement.

“Having a prominent leader of the antifa movement on campus is a threat to conservative students,” the petition warned, noting that Bray had “regularly referred” to “mainstream conservative figures” as fascists. “This is the kind of rhetoric that resulted in Charlie Kirk being assassinated.”

Never mind that Kirk himself insisted that people “should be allowed to say outrageous things,” as he told the Oxford Union earlier this year. “There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment,” Kirk posted on social media in 2024.

And never mind the time-honored right-wing complaint about “cancel culture” on American campuses. For years, conservatives have charged that universities censored them by imagining speech as violence. If you opposed affirmative action, for example, you were threatening nonwhite students. We need to protect them from harm, the argument went, so we’re shutting you down.

Now conservatives are turning that same argument against figures such as Bray. “In the current political climate, it’s paramount to protect students from radicals who wish violence upon them,” the Rutgers Turning Point petition claims, explaining why Bray should be dismissed.

Bray is a scholar of antifa but denies being a member of the group, which President Donald Trump’s administration recently called a “domestic terrorist organization.” It’s not clear that antifa — a highly decentralized movement — qualifies as an “organization” at all. And even if it does, civil rights attorneys have claimed, Trump lacks any legal authority to designate it as “terrorist.”

But the GOP has become the party of cancel culture, and Trump is the canceller-in-chief. In January, after returning to the White House, Trump issued an order restoring free speech to the nation.

He then embarked upon a wide-ranging campaign of censorship, especially against universities.

The White House revoked the visas of student protesters, penalized schools for allegedly antisemitic speech, and pressured them to scrub websites of any language related to diversity, equity and inclusion. And at the University of Pennsylvania, where I teach, we were forced to apologize for letting a trans female swimmer compete on the women’s team.

You might think that an attack of this magnitude would cause the American left to make a full-throated defense of free and open expression. But you’d be wrong.

Sure, Trump’s victims have condemned him for trampling on their free speech rights. But they have also demanded the censorship of right-wing voices, including — you guessed it — Turning Point USA.

At Rutgers, for example, nearly 7,000 people signed a petition asking the university to disband its Turning Point chapter because its allegedly violent rhetoric made people feel unsafe. “It’s imperative that we take decisive action to restore security and the feeling on inclusivity to the campus,” the petition urged. “The safety and well-being of our students and faculty must be prioritized.”

Sound familiar? It’s almost exactly what Turning Point said about Bray. He’s using dangerous words, so we need to shut him down.

After Turning Point demanded his dismissal — and Fox News picked up the story — Bray received several death threats, causing him to flee the country with his family. That’s horrible, of course, but it’s hardly a valid reason to shut down Turning Point. You might just as well censor Bray for the murder of Kirk, whose assassin made references to fascism.

Let’s be clear: Nobody should be allowed to make direct threats of physical harm, such as Bray suffered. But once we decide to censor speech on the grounds that it might cause violence — or make someone afraid — we won’t be able to speak at all.

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That’s a lesson we still refuse to learn. After Rutgers sought to remove two leaders of its Turning Point chapter — because, the university said, they weren’t registered as officers of the group — they denounced the move as a“politically motivated” attack on their freedom of speech. “We want differing values, we want different beliefs, we want to have conversations with people,” said Ava Kwan, one of the student leaders.

But Bray was a different story, Kwan insisted. He should be fired because he has praised antifa, and antifa has promoted violence. “We don’t feel safe on campus with him around,” Kwan claimed. “We don’t feel safe having him appointed at Rutgers.”

In other words: Free speech for me, not for thee. And if that’s what you believe, you don’t believe in free speech. You just want your own side to win.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of“Free Speech and Why You Should Give a Damn” and nine other books.

Today is Sunday, Nov. 2, the 306th day of 2025. There are 59 days left in the year. Daylight saving time ends today.

Today in history:

On Nov. 2, 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his Hughes H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the “Spruce Goose,” on its only flight; a massive wooden seaplane with a wingspan longer than a football field, it remained airborne for 26 seconds.

Also on this date:

In 1783, Gen. George Washington issued his Farewell Address to the Army.

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In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln relieved Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont of his command of the Army’s Western Department, following Fremont’s unauthorized efforts to emancipate slaves in Missouri.

In 1948, in one of the most unexpected results in U.S. presidential election history, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeated the heavily favored Republican governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1959, Charles Van Doren testified before a congressional committee that he had conspired with television producers to cheat on the television quiz show “Twenty-One.”

In 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter, a former governor of Georgia, became the first candidate from the Deep South to be elected president since the Civil War, defeating Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford.

In 2000, American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, became the first crew to reside onboard the International Space Station; they spent a total of 136 days in the station before returning to Earth on Space Shuttle Discovery.

In 2003, in Iraq, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying U.S. soldiers, killing 16 and wounding 20 others.

In 2004, Republican President George W. Bush was elected to a second term, defeating Democratic Sen. John Kerry as the GOP strengthened its control of Congress.

In 2007, British college student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found slain in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy; her roommate, American Amanda Knox, and Knox’s Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of killing Kercher, but both were later exonerated.

In 2016, ending a championship drought that had lasted since 1908, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in extra innings in the deciding seventh game.

In 2021, the Atlanta Braves won their first World Series championship since 1995, defeating the Houston Astros in Game 6.

In 2023, FTX founder and disgraced cryptocurrency star Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud by a New York jury for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for the massive scheme that led to the collapse of the FTX platform for exchanging digital currency.

Today’s Birthdays:

Tennis Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall is 91.
Political commentator Pat Buchanan is 87.
Olympic gold medal wrestler Bruce Baumgartner is 65.
Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 64.
Playwright Lynn Nottage is 61.
Actor David Schwimmer is 59.
Jazz singer Kurt Elling is 58.
Rapper Nelly is 51.
Film director Jon Chu is 46.
TV personality Karamo Brown (“Queer Eye”) is 45.
NFL quarterback Jordan Love is 27.

Former Gophers and current Michigan State defensive coordinator Joe Rossi looked livid over a pass interference call that weighed heavily in Minnesota’s 23-20 overtime win on Saturday.

Postgame, however, Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith didn’t take much issue on that flag given to defensive back Malcolm Bell for contact on U receiver Le’Meke Brockington.

Drake Lindsey’s third-down pass had fallen incomplete, and without the penalty it would have been fourth and 4 from the 19-yard line.

“Not every call is going to go your way,” Smith said. “Dang, this is an emotional game. Those are the calls.”

That wasn’t the only pass interference call that weighed heavily on the outcome. In the first overtime, the officiating crew picked up a flag for pass interference on Gophers safety Kerry Brown. Instead of a first and goal for the Spartans, it was fourth and 3 from the 18, and Michigan State kicked a 36-yard field goal.

“The explanation was — there is not just one referee out there, they got eight of them — the communication of the group of eight that put eyes on the call, one came in with a stronger opinion to pick it up,” Smith said. “I felt it was delayed in getting there, but that was what the explanation was.”

The Gophers would score the game-winning touchdown on the next series.

Tribute

The Gophers welcomed back the friends of Fletcher Merkel — the 8-year-old boy who was murdered in the Annunciation Church shooting in August.

That group of kids and parent chaperones shared a great moment with Merkel during the Gophers’ upset of Southern California last October.

On their return trip to the U this weekend, the group attended the U’s practice Friday and Saturday’s game. They received game balls from head coach P.J. Fleck after the win.

In the wake of the tragedy that killed two and injured 30, Fleck said it was an small opportunity for some to start healing and creating new memories.

“They could smile,” Fleck said. “And I thought they did.”

Injuries

Gophers top running back Darius Taylor missed the Michigan State game. The junior from Detroit pick up an undisclosed injury before the Iowa loss last weekend and played only three snaps against the Hawkeyes.

The leading rusher has now missed three games and parts of three others.

In warmups Saturday, starting cornerback Za’Quan Bryan injured his shoulder and couldn’t play. Minnesota was already without defense backs Garrison Monroe and Mike Gerald, who have been dealing with ailments for weeks.

Cornerback John Nestor, who left the Iowa loss with an injury, returned and contributed six tackles.

Minnesota was also without role-playing receivers Logan Loya and Kenric Lanier against the Spartans. Loya also missed the Iowa game, while Lanier’s absence is new.

Other Gophers who remained out: linebacker Jeff Roberson,  defensive tackle Theorin Randle, receiver Cristian Driver, offensive lineman DJ Shipp and others.

A handful of Gophers got hurt during Saturday’s game to varying degrees: Star defensive end Anthony Smith (but he returned), linebacker Joey Gerlach, safeties Kerry Brown and Darius Green and Brockington.

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