Vermonter who carried torch in Charlottesville makes no apology
The Burlington man who lost his job for participating in this weekend's white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is unapologetic about his views that people should be separated based on race.
Ryan Roy, 28, of Burlington is recorded in a Vice News documentary carrying a torch during a demonstration protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The camera focuses on Roy as he yells the white supremacist group's chant: "Whose streets? Our streets."
Roy identified as liberal when he was a student at Essex High School, he said in an interview Tuesday with the Burlington Free Press. He graduated in 2007 and came to his views about race by doing research on the Internet, reading, listening to the radio and attending speeches.
Roy is now a vocalist for a local band called Hate Speech, favors white nationalism and separation based on race, and supports President Donald Trump.
Roy blamed the violence in Charlottesville on counter-protesters who showed up to oppose white supremacists. One of the counter-protesters was later killed and more than a dozen others injured when a car struck the crowd, and the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil-rights investigation.
"The left in this country is trying to destroy white culture and white heritage and American heritage, because history doesn’t fit their politically correct scenario," Roy said.
Roy argued that the United States was a "white country" until 1965, when Congress removed quotas in federal immigration law that heavily favored northern Europe to the exclusion of other immigrant groups.
Until Tuesday, when he was fired for participating in the Charlottesville rally, Roy worked as a cook at Uno Pizzeria and Grill on Shelburne Road in South Burlington. He has one child and lives in Burlington.
More:Pizza chain fires VT worker who joined Charlottesville rally
Social media posts identifying Roy as a participant in the white supremacist rally shocked some of his longtime acquaintances.
Sam Wormer of Essex Junction said he became friends with Roy at Essex High School. Wormer was "completely shocked" to see the Vice News documentary that included Roy.
"He would attend anti-war rallies. He was very left — like anti-Republican, very progressive, very liberal, very anti-Christian," Wormer recalled. He said Roy was part of the "fringe crowd" and would stick up for anyone who was being bullied.
Wormer said Roy and his family welcomed him into their home for Thanksgiving dinner in 2006, when the two were close friends. They lost touch about two years ago, Wormer said, except for a brief interaction last September when Roy shared that he would soon become a father.
Roy said he was liberal when he was younger, which he said was a default position for someone growing up in Vermont. Over time he became libertarian, then conservative.
Roy said he spent time in the South when he was younger and feels a special connection to Southern history and culture. He now views Vermont as a "leftist safe space," and said the reaction to his involvement in the white supremacist rally shows "communist mentality" and "group think."
"There's nothing wrong with white people standing up for their own interest and identity," Roy said.
Wormer strongly disagreed with Roy's views but did not support efforts to get Roy fired or to call the Vermont Department for Children and Families in an attempt to remove his child. Wormer said such efforts would lead to more anger.
"Taking away somebody's job and livelihood — I mean, that’s just adding fuel to the fire," Wormer said. "I don’t think any good is going to come of this on anybody's side."
Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum. Do you have a breaking news tip? Call us at 802-660-6500 or send us a post on Facebook or Twitter using #BFPTips.