Sisters ejected from Pa. mall over cancer hats

What is this world coming to? All they wanted to do was express how they felt about cancer and instead they got booted.

From Boston.com

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) — Three sisters say they were kicked out of a suburban Philadelphia mall after refusing to remove profanity-laden hats expressing their hatred of breast cancer.

Zakia Clark and Tasha Clark had been at the King of Prussia Mall on Sunday shopping for funeral dresses with a third sister, Makia Underwood. Their mother died last week after battling the disease.

Zakia and Tasha Clark were wearing hats that had a one-word profanity — with a pink ribbon substituting for the third letter — before the word cancer. Zakia Clark says it’s the only word strong enough to defeat the word ‘cancer.’

Security asked them to remove the hats. They were ejected after refusing. Mall manager Robert Hart says he sends condolences to the sisters, but that the mall is a family place where the code of conduct does not tolerate profanity.

One of the hats...

“That’s how we feel. It took our mom away. It’s a demon. It’s the devil … There are no other words you can use to explain how you feel. You want cancer to get cancer and die.”'

Sisters ejected from mall over cancer hats

I realize the mall is a private entity and Freedom of Speech and one's ability to express themselves can only go so far BUT isn't it ironic that one of the many stores in this particular mall is Spencer's, which is known to carry unique, trendy and fad based merchandise...many with outrageous and profanity laden language. So, why the double standard? SMH.

reply to post by Jaellma


It is stupid to dislike profanity more than cancer.

But if it was your store wouldn't you like to have the freedom to allow or disallow what you like?

They were guests of the store which was private property, if they wanted to stay they should have listened to the request to remove the hats, if they didn't want to they should have left willingly.

If you're not a smoker and someone lights up in your house when you've asked them not to, what would you do?

reply to post by Jaellma


When you see stories like this you have to ask yourself would it be alright for my kids to see this. If not they should not be doing it in public. It really is that easy and is the same reason I don't want drug addicts shooting up in the park or men in drag teaching grade school kids.

reply to post by Jaellma


Unfortunately, the mall is private property, and proprietors can set up "dress codes." I was asked to leave a bar once because I had on a fur felt fedora, because they had a "no hat" policy, which, even though likely aimed at ball caps, was an umbrella policy even for a dressy fedora. Other places have their own dress codes, from restaurants, etc.

If this were considered a public place or a public forum I can see grounds for fighting the ejection. Even though the words aren't political speech in nature, they are freedom of expression. It could be argued that it's obscene (in a public place/forum), but once again, the mall itself is not a historically "public" place/forum as legally defined.

I can understand not wanting children to see the hat, so I'm kinda on the fence, personally. I'm all for wearing stuff like this and would be angered if asked to leave or remove it, but legally there is little ground to stand on.

:/

reply to post by Jaellma

Theres a difference between public and private property.

reply to post by Liquesence
My argument is the hypocrisy of the mall owners in allowing a store like Spencer's to carry all sort of obscene paraphernalia on their PRIVATE property but yet can throw out anyone who doesn't "fit the bill".

I guess that's what I am struggling with but hey, it's their mall and they can do whatever the hell they want to do with it.

Originally posted by Jaellma
reply to post by Liquesence

 

My argument is the hypocrisy of the mall owners in allowing a store like Spencer's to carry all sort of obscene paraphernalia on their PRIVATE property but yet can throw out anyone who doesn't "fit the bill".

I guess that's what I am struggling with but hey, it's their mall and they can do whatever the hell they want to do with it.

There isn't a hypocrisy.

The store is allowed to sell whatever it wants, but that doesn't mean it can be worn out into the mall.

That would be like me going into Victoria's Secret and thinking I could walk around the mall in a teddy.

reply to post by Jaellma


I read this at work, while I was supposed to be working and it really upset me.

My opinion is that the rent a cop(s) involved went on a power trip. The way these ladies were approached was unprofessional and rude. The hat did not say the F word. It had a cancer ribbon in place of the C.

Ok, so you still know what it means.

This screams freedom of speech infringement.

The only thing going in the rent a cop's favor is the Mall is a privately owned domain and can set their own rules. I have heard of teenagers being thrown out for similar things. The rational side of me says fair is fair and they have to enforce it across the board. The emotional side of me says this is ridiculous.

I feel deeply for these women.

There is a child in Louisville KY who is named Miley that has a facebook page. She has cancer. She is like 7. Her parents had t-shirts made that say F U cancer. I would never wear it, or buy one, but if it were my child I would feel the same way so I get it.

Where was this rent a cop's compassion? He could not have been so clueless as to not have assumed they had/or have someone close to them with cancer.

Bottom line, he could have handled this much differently.

If it were me, in the rent a cop's shoes, I would've approached them and said, I hate cancer too, but, the owners of this mall do not allow profanity, so can you please do me a huge favor and remove your hats? It would've gone over so much better than TAKE OFF YOUR HATS!

Sometimes it is all in the delivery. Empathy would have gotten him so much farther and this would not have been news.

This rent a cop needs to go to training in how to deal with the public before he is allowed to work again.

reply to post by k21968


The truth is, you don't know HOW this was handled. However, this quote from the story.

“He said, ‘Since you don’t want to take your hat off, you can leave my mall.’ … He stood there while we ate and threatened to call the cops.”

It sounds like he gave the the opportunity to take off the hats before having them ejected. Their refusal to comply with the security personnel's request is what got them ejected from the mall, not their initial wearing of the hats.

Read more at www.inquisitr.com...

She claims her daughter was scared, but she still didn't feel compelled to take off the hat. Yeah.

The story I read is posted below and was on Fox Health News...

here is why I said what i said...fox news link


Zakia told the Philadelphia Daily News that the guard approached them without a greeting and said, “‘Take your hats off.’”

Zakia removed her hat, but Tasha – a former mall employee – asked to see something in writing



Read more: www.foxnews.com...

This thread/topic/story really does not deserve too many replies. It's a simple open-and-shut case. The only thing that will stir people up is that it involves cancer.

Basically, it's taboo for people to not support the fight against cancer, no matter the case. If that hat had any word other than "cancer," this wouldn't be a story. But since cancer is involved, it's everywhere.

Now, I'll imagine a flash mob going to that mall with "Fu*q Cancer" attire trying to make a statement.

Originally posted by k21968
The story I read is posted below and was on Fox Health News...

here is why I said what i said...fox news link


Zakia told the Philadelphia Daily News that the guard approached them without a greeting and said, “‘Take your hats off.’”

Zakia removed her hat, but Tasha – a former mall employee – asked to see something in writing



Read more: www.foxnews.com...

edit on 22-5-2013 by k21968 because: (no reason given)

Ill have to take your word for what the article says, I have my internet filter set to block out foxnews.com

reply to post by MichaelPMaccabee


If you READ my earlier post, I put the sentence in my post with what the article stated about what was said.

reply to post by k21968


Why am I not surprised that the Fox version differs significantly from ALL of the other mainstream versions?

Fox:

the guard approached them without a greeting and said, “‘Take your hats off.’”

ABC:

Security asked them to remove the hats.

Miami Herald:

Security asked them to remove the hats.

ETC.

I forgot, Fox puts their own spin on things and blows stuff out of proportion.