Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers in charge of administering many of the anti-poverty programs of the time. Wolfe presents the office as corrupt, continually gamed by hustlers diverting cash into their own pockets. The essay centers on the irony of these failed programs fortifying not the diets but the resentment and contempt of the Black, Chicano, Filipino, Chinese, Indian, and Samoan communities of San Francisco. Wolfe describes hapless bureaucrats (the Flak Catchers) whose function was reduced to taking abuse, or "mau-mauing" (in reference to the intimidation tactics employed in Kenya's anti-colonial Mau Mau Uprising) from intimidating young Blacks and Samoans, who are seen as reveling
Mau movement Mau movement The Mau was a non-violent movement for Samoan independence from colonial rule during the first half of the 20th century. "Mau" means 'opinion,' 'unwavering,' 'to be decided,' or 'testimony' denoting 'firm strength' in Samoan. The motto for the Mau were the words Samoa mo Samoa (Samoa for the Samoans). Similarly in Hawaii'an "Mau" means to strive or persevere, and is often linked with Hawaii'an poetry relating to independence and sovereignty struggles. The movement had its beginnings on the island of Savai'i with the "Mau a Pule" resistance in the early 1900s with widespread support throughout the country by