My mother, Jennie M. Shaffer, Vice President of the West Virginia Education Association,
leading 20,000 K-12 teachers in an “illegal” strike to shut down the WV school system. WV State Capitol, 1990

My Father’s Work for Social Justice and Civil Rights

In 1997, my father, Reverend Dr. Dallas B. Shaffer, was given an award for his lifetime of work for social justice and civil rights.  Justice Franklin D. Cleckley, one of my father’s best friends, presented the award.  Both my father and Justice Cleckley were raised in McDowell County, WV, one of the poorest counties in the United States. 

Justice Cleckley served as a Navy JAG in Vietnam for three years.  The Secretary of Defense called him “the most sought-after attorney in Vietnam.”   He was the first black Professor of Law at WVU. He was the first African American to serve as a Justice on the WV Supreme Court of Appeals.  He received a J.D. degree from Indiana University School of Law in 1965 and Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School in 1969.

My Mother’s Work for Social Justice and Civil Rights

In 1990, when my mother, Jennie Mae Shaffer, née Lininger, was the Vice President of the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA), she and the President of WVEA ordered the 20,000 K-12 teachers in West Virginia to go on strike to shut down the state school system. They were the lowest paid teachers in the United States.  After shutting down the state school system for 11 days, they got a 15% raise.

My mother rallying 5000 striking teachers
at the WV Capitol.

My mother with the President of WVEA carrying a coffin into the Governor’s Office to let him know his proposal for the state teachers’ contract was dead.

The photo above is of my mother leading 5,000 striking teachers at the WV State Capitol Building in Pete Seeger’s song “If I had a Hammer…”  Two years later for her birthday, I took her to see Pete Seeger in concert. He sang his most famous protest song “We Shall Overcome”

Click here for Bruce Springsteen’s moving tribute to Pete Seeger in Rolling Stones magazine

ABOUT MY LITTLE BROTHER’S WORK

FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CIVIL RIGHTS

For his education in the sciences, Doug earned a Pharmacy Degree and a Medical Degree from WVU, and a Master of Arts in Hospital Administration from Duke University.  He entered federal service for our country with the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, then served with the US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta.  In 2003, he helped Dr. Anthony Fauci start the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. To implement the PEPFAR program, Doug lived in Kenya and Rwanda for 20 years with some of the poorest people in the world suffering from HIV/AIDS.

The PEPFAR program has now saved 25 million lives.

Doug is now the Associate Director of the
US Food and Drug Administration’s
Office of Global Policy and Strategy.

The FDA is the largest and most powerful regulatory agency in the world.

Dr. Douglas N. Shaffer, MD
Associate Director, US FDA
Office of Global Policy and Strategy

Why I Work for Social Justice and Civil Rights?

In a nutshell, that is what I was born and raised to do.  Both of my parents dedicated their lives to working for social justice and civil rights.  They learned everything they could about our country’s history, our Constitutional rights, and our federal government.  Then they spent their careers teaching high school and college students about our history and constitutional rights.  Below are some examples of my civil rights work:

GETTING “PAPERS” FOR RUSSIAN JEWISH SCIENTISTS WHO WERE THE SUBJECT OF ANTISEMETIC PERSECUTION IN MOSCOW

The photo below shows Secretary of Energy
Four Star Admiral James D. Watkins visiting my lab.

Dr. Harvey S. Borovetz, Assistant Director of the Artificial Heart Program at Pittsburgh’s Presbyterian Hospital, showing Admiral Watkins an artificial heart we were working on in my lab.  It was in clinical trials in patients at the Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, St Louis Medical Center, and Stanford Medical Research Institute.

Our sixth Secretary of Energy, Four Star Admiral James D. Watkins. He also served as the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Chief of Naval Operations, and Executive Officer on the USS Long Beach, and Chair of President George H.W. Bush’s Commission on the HIV/AIDS epidemic

In the above photo on the left, Dr. Borovetz is showing Sec of Energy Admiral Watkins an experimental setup in my lab of a Jarvik artificial heart connected another artificial heart, the Baxter Healthcare Novacor Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) in my lab.  Below are photos of the experimental setup:

The experimental setup in my lab

A photo of the Novacor LVAD connected to a Jarvik artificial heart (to simulate a human heart) in my lab at the USDOE National Energy Technology Laboratory

Anatomical configuration of the Novacor Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

Director of the Artificial Heart Program at Presbyterian Hospital, Heart Transplant Surgeon Dr. Robert Kormos prepares a Novacor LVAD for implant.  I took this photo standing five feet away in the Main Operating Theater of Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh.

After Secretary of Energy Admiral Watkins and his handlers departed for Oak Ridge then Los Alamos, I was alone with Harvey.  He asked me if I could help get “papers” for a Russian Jewish scientist, Dr. Marina Kamenava.  The Tree of Life brought her and her husband, Dr. Boris Kushner, to the US. They wanted to keep them here because they are world class scientists, and because they were being persecuted in Moscow because they’re Jewish. 

I had Dr. Kamenava visit my lab and had the photo below taken. It shows here working in a scientific laboratory in the United States government. (She was only there for a couple hours to take the photo.)

I had everyone wear laser safety goggles so that Dr. Kameneva would not be easily recognized if the photo were displayed publicly.  But when she showed it to an INS official, she would easily recognized as a scientist working in a laboratory of the United States Department of Energy.

Dr. Kameneva earned her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the School of Mathematics and Mechanics at Moscow State University (former Soviet Union) and subsequently worked at the Research Institute of Mechanics, Moscow State University.

Today Dr. Kameneva is the Director of the Artificial Blood Research Laboratory at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh.  She is now saving American lives. 

Dr. Boris Kushner earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Moscow State University in 1966 and worked at the Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Science for 23 years.  His book Lectures on Constructive Mathematical Analysis was published in Russia and in the US by the the American Mathematical Society.  For 27 years, he taught mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown. He retired as a Professor Emeritus in 2017.

Here’s one of my publications with Dr. Kameneva:

Development of an Axial Blood Flow Pump,  Kenneth Clark Butler, Franklin Shaffer, Harvey Borovetz, James Antaki, Tim Maher, Bartley Griffeth, Tony Zerbre, and Marina Kamenevi, Journal of the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs, Vol. 38, No.3, 1992

Creating the Minority Mentoring Program
at the USDOE National Energy Technology Laboratory

The 535 federal employees of the NETL chose me to represent them During the merger of the DOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) and the DOE Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center (PETC).  I was an Executive Officer in the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1916. I attended all meetings of the Executive Board (Director and Associate Directors) during the merger.

During the merger, the Director and Associate Directors intentionally made numerous decisions that amounted to an obvious “disparate treatment” of women and minorities at the NETL.

During an All Hands Meeting of all 535 federal employees, the Director Rita Bajura promised that promoting diversity would be a priority in selecting candidates for the 75 management positions of the newly formed National Laboratory.  She asked all federal employees who wanted to be considered for management positions to submit bios. 

During one of the meetings of the Director and Associate Directors, the HR Director Norm Howton offered to rig all 75 management positions.  He told the Director and Associate Directors that all they had to do was give him the names they wanted in each position, then he would “do the paperwork” to make sure they get them selected.

When the Director and Associate Directors met to fill the 75 management positions, they did not even look at the bios.  The bios were not even in the room.  There was no discussion about diversity. 

The management positions were filled using the “detail” process.  That means that the positions can be filled for 75 days without competition.  But at the end of the detail period, the positions must be filled competitively according to federal law. 

At the end of the 75-day detail period, the Director and Associate Directors did nothing.  All 75 management positions became permanent without competition and without any consideration of diversity.  It was a violation of the trust of all 535 federal employees, and a violation of federal law.

The Director and Associate Directors simply lied to me and all 535 federal employees. 

I reported this to the unions representing NETL’s 535 federal employees, AFGE 1915 and AFGE 1916.  I also reported it to the NETL EEO Manager Nancy Vargas.  No one would do anything.

So I filed an EEO Complaint. A few days later I walked into the Director’s office with two 8”x11” envelopes. One was not addressed.  The other was a Fedex postage-paid overnight delivery envelope addressed to the Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary.  I showed it to the Director. She was the first woman and the first African American to serve as a Secretary of Energy.

Our seventh Secretary of Energy, Hazel O’Leary. 

I told the Director of NETL, Rita Bajura, that I would drop my EEO Complaint if she would provide $300,000 (the maximum I could have gotten through an EEO complaint) to start a Minority Mentoring Program.

I told her the funds would be completely controlled by the Minority Mentoring Program.  Management would have no oversight authority on the Minority Mentoring Program.

I told her to have the $300,000 deposited into my personal bank account by COB (Close-Of-Business) the next day.  I told her if I didn’t receive the funds by COB the next day, I would mail the Fedex envelope addressed to our Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary.

She read the first page of the document, put it down, then immediately agreed to all of my terms.

The next day at 9AM, the USDOE deposited $300,000 into my personal bank account.  I then transferred the funds into a bank account controlled by Chemical Engineer Art Baldwin and the Minority Mentoring Team. 

At that time, Art’s wife, Cynthia, was a Justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  Later Justice Baldwin gave the speech for Black History Month at the NETL.  One of the most inspiring speeches I’ve heard.

The Honorable Cynthia A. Baldwin was the second African-American woman to serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The Minority Mentoring Program gave NETL scientists and engineers the opportunity to volunteer to be Mentors for disadvantaged high school and college minority and female students. If the students completed two years as part-time Mentees working at the NETL, when they graduated from college, they had the option to be immediately hired as federal employees of the NETL.

My Settlement Agreement ensured that the Minority Mentoring Program would be funded for at least three years.  Mentoring programs still exist at the NETL today – although watered down with no mention of the words “diversity” or “minority.” Click the photo to learn more about the current NETL program.

Justice Franklin D. Cleckley, Speaker for the NETL
Martin Luther King Jr Day Celebration

In 1998, after the merger of METC and PETC, I asked Justice Cleckley to be the speaker for our Martin Luther King Day Celebration at the Morgantown site of the DOE NETL (At that time it was named the USDOE Federal Energy Technology Center, FETC).  Below is the flyer I made to announce the event to the 535 federal employees of NETL:

I and my friend and Best Man in my wedding, Otis Mills Jr, Chief Information Officer for the NETL, organized this event.  We picked up Justice Cleckley at the WVU School of Law to bring him to the NETL Morgantown site.  On the way he told us about working with Dr. Martin Luther King.

My Work with the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice

I got involved with the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice (TMC) in Pittsburgh in 1999 after three Baldwin/Brentwood police officers who murdered an innocent African American businessman named Jonny Gammage.   Jonny Gammage was driving a Jaguar luxury car owned by his cousin, NFL Steelers player Ray Seals through Brentwood, a suburb of Pittsburgh.   Ronald Arnoni was a City Councilman and Mayor of Brentwood.   It was his police officers who murdered Jonny Gammage.

Gammage was committing no crimes, other than “DWB” in a luxury car through Ronald Arnoni’s Brentwood.   Arnoni’s police officers murdered Jonny Gammage in the same way George Floyd was murdered 25 years later.   But in 1995 there were no cell phones with cameras to record the murder of Jonny Gammage.

I got involved with the Thomas Merton Center to peacefully protest and file lawsuits against Ronald Arnoni.   Click here or on the image below to watch a brief (4 minute) Youtube video “Enough is Enough” about the murder of Jonny Gammage.

I got involved with the Thomas Merton Center to peacefully protest and file lawsuits against Ronald Arnoni.   Ronald Arnoni was a Brentwood City Councilman and Mayor of Brentwood from 1995 through 1999 when three Baldwin/Brentwood Police Officers who were working for him murdered an innocent African American businessman named Jonny Gammage -- with impunity.  

Jonny Gammage was driving a Jaguar luxury car owned by his cousin, NFL Steelers player Ray Seals, through Brentwood, a suburb of Pittsburgh.   Gammage was committing no crimes, other than “DWB” in a luxury car through Ronald Arnoni’s Brentwood.   Arnoni’s police officers murdered Jonny Gammage in the same way George Floyd was murdered 25 years later. But in 1995 there were no cell phones with cameras to record the murder of Jonny Gammage.

The official autopsy and an additional autopsy by Dr. Cyril Wecht found that Gammage died of positional asphyxia, the result of compression of his chest and neck, rendering him unable to breathe.

Murder of George Floyd
by “positional asphyxiation”

Arnoni was later accused of using police violence and bribes to get himself elected as the Magistrate of Bethel Park PA –

where I lived and owned a house.

On January 8, 2016, Bethel Park Magistrate Ronald Arnoni ordered three Bethel Park Police Officers to fabricate false charges against me that give the impression that I assaulted a little girl with autism using a weapon that they had to hide from public view.
I was not arrested because the charges are all lies in retaliation for my protests and lawsuits against Ronald Arnoni.   On January 8, 2016, the three Bethel Park Police Officers shown in the photo below entered my home without knocking and threw -me out.   One month later, on February 8, 2016, Arnoni promoted all three officers to Sergeants.

ABOUT MY WORK WITH
THE THOMAS MERTON CENTER IN PITTSBURGH

When I was involved with the TMC from around 1998 to 2006, the Mission statement of the TMC was

The Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice was founded in 1972 to bring people from diverse philosophies and faiths together to work, through nonviolent efforts, for a more just and peaceful world. Through protests and ongoing projects, members of TMC aim to instill in our society a consciousness of values and to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism and oppression.
On September 21, 2001, ten days after 911, I posted online the original website for the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice: www.ThomasMertonCenter.org
I registered the website in my name.  Here is a copy of the original registration for the TMC website.

This is a photo of the board of directors of the TMC in 2002. 

Click here to read an article about Molly by the Catholic Sisterhood

Father Tim Vining, Executive Director of the TMC

In the photo above, I’m the tall guy in the back row, far left.  Standing directly in front of me is Tim Vining, Director of the TMC at that time. He was a Franciscan brother.  He also has a law degree. He’s a very effective advocate for social justice.

Beside Tim, far left, is Molly Rush. She co-founded the TMC in 1972. The TMC was founded by Catholic pacifists and the Catholic Workers Movement founded by Dorothy Day. They started as a movement to protest the continuation of the Vietnam War, and federal cutbacks to welfare programs.

She is most well known as the only woman to be a member of the Plowshares Eight, the name taken from Isaiah 2:4

“they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”

The Plowshares Eight, from left to right: Father. Carl Kabat, Elmer Maas, Father Phil Berrigan, Molly Rush, Father Dan Berrigan, Sister Anne Montgomery, John Schuchardt, Dean Hammer.

The hammers were foam hammers you would give to a two-year old.  They did not cut open their veins and pour their blood on nuclear weapons.  They participated in Communion given by the Catholic priests amongst them.  The “blood” was wine transubstantiated into blood of Jesus Christ.

I admire The Plowshares Eight for their faith and courage, but I do not advocate and would not participate in such an action.

GREATER PITTSBURGH CHAPTER OF BLACKS IN GOVERNMENT

In 2000, I co-founded the Pittsburgh Chapter of Blacks in Government with my friend Otis Mills Jr. Otis was an engineer and Chief Information Officer at the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. He was my Best Man.

In 2018, when I was being attacked at the USDOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, he tried to defend me. About a year later, his skull was crushed with a police baton.

The purpose, mission and vision statements of BIG are:

BIG PURPOSE: An advocate of equal opportunity and professional development for Black government employees at the Local, State and Federal government levels and others dedicated to justice for all.

BIG VISION: Member focused, world class enterprise, recognized for excellence.

BIG MISSION: Enable all present and future Black employees in Local, State, and Federal governments to have the ability to maximize their career opportunities and provide a mechanism for inclusion, growth and advocacy.

Here’s what the website looked like. 
Click here or on the image to see part of the original PittBIG.org website

PEOPLE AGAINST POLICE VIOLENCE v. CITY OF PITTSBURGH

In 2003, the ACLU, NAACP, TMC and a group called “People Against Police Violence (PAPV)” filed a civil action against the City of Pittsburgh, the City of Pittsburgh Law Department, and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

Despite the name of the case, it was not about police violence.
It was a First Amendment rights case.

The case was in the federal US District Court for Western PA before the Honorable District Court Judge Joy Flowers Conti. 
It was heavily covered in local and national media.

Because I created the TMC website, I was a visible member of an organization suing the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Police.

The Honorable Judge Joy Flowers Conti ruled that the PAPV, ACLU, NAACP and TMC were the “prevailing party.” She ordered the City of Pittsburgh to pay the legal fees of TMC, PAPV, ACLU and NAACP.

Why I got involved with the Thomas Merton Center in 1999

One reason is that I watched Pakistan get into a nuclear weapons pissing contest with India.  India detonated five nuclear weapons.  So in an act of nuclear one-upmanship, Pakistan detonated six nuclear weapons to blow up a mountain range.

Another reason I got involved with the TMC was because I had family, colleagues, and friends whose lives were damaged by the Vietnam war. My father-in-law and mentor for almost ten years was Navy Chaplain Captain Richard Black. He did three tours in Vietnam. In 1967, he was in Con Thien where some of the fiercest fighting occurred.  Click here for a list of the great Vietnam Vets I knew, loved and worked with.

Sixteen-Year-Old Josh Pollock for Mayor of Pittsburgh

“Uncorrupted by Years of Experience”

In 2000, I met a 16-year-old punk rocker named Josh Pollock at a TMC event. He’d created a group associated with the TMC, Rock Against Racism. Josh jokingly said he wanted to run for Mayor of Pittsburgh. I encouraged him to actually enter as a candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh and told him I would commit to helping any way I could.

So I created a website for Josh and supported his campaign. Not many took Josh seriously. But he got enough votes to change the results of the Mayoral election, causing Bob O’Connor to lose to Tom Murphy by 600 votes. Josh got 1100 votes.

So I created a website for Josh and supported his campaign. Not many took Josh seriously. But he got enough votes to change the results of the Mayoral election, causing Bob O’Connor to lose to Tom Murphy by 600 votes. Josh got 1100 votes.

Click here or on the image above to see
a copy of the original JoshforMayor.com website

Executive Officer of the
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1916

When I was attacked at the NETL in 2018, I was an Executive Officer of the union representing the 250 federal employees at the NETL Pittsburgh site, AFGE Local 1916.

During the merger of the DOE Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center and the DOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center, I was chosen by the 535 federal employees to represent them during the merger.

I also created our website, www.AFGE1916.org
Here’s what it looked like in 2005:

This website was registered and created by Josh Pollock

1204 Malvern Street in Pittsburgh is the home of Josh’s parents, Attorney Dave and Rita Pollock

Attorney Dave Pollock is the Campaign Finance Manager and Treasurer for common pleas Judge Hugh F. McGough.

I took over the WPA4MUMIA.org website because Josh was only 16 years old and was posting things about police that I feared would get him in trouble. Sure enough, a death threat was submitted through the comments form on the website. Here is the death threat:

More than fifteen years later, somehow common pleas Judge Hugh F. McGough got himself appointed to my divorce case.  He and Allegheny County Solicitor Luke C. Kelly, under color of law, stole almost everything I earned in 32 years of service.  More about this soon…

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper reports in his memoir that when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump asked
"Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?"

ABOUT MY FEDERAL SERVICE FOR MY COUNTRY (return to homepage)