Synopses & Reviews
Dismissed by the police as mere adjuncts to or gofers for male gangs, girl gang-bangers in fact are often as emotionally closed off and dangerous as their male counterparts. Carrying razor blades in their mouths and guns in their jackets, they initiate drive-by shootings, carry out carjackings, stomp outsiders who stumble into or dare to enter the neighborhood, and viciously retaliate against any who would invade their home turf.
In 8 Ball Chicks, veteran journalist Gini Sikes spends a year in the ghettos following girl gangs in South Central Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Milwaukee. In following the lives of several key gang members in each city, we discover the fear and desperate desire for respect and status that drive girls into gangs in the first place -- and the dreams that sometimes work to help them to escape the catch-22 of their existence.