Three sisters were kicked out the King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia on Sunday when they were shopping for dresses to wear to their mother's funeral scheduled for Thursday.
The sisters, Zakia Clark, Tasha Clark, and Makia Underwood wore the hats featuring a suggested obscenity followed by the word "cancer" as a testament protesting the disease and concurrently honoring the life of their mother, Jackie Underwood, who recently lost a four-year-long battle with breast cancer at the age of 51.
Mall security approached the girls and asked them remove their hats; when the girls refused, they were forced to leave.
"The mall is first and foremost a family destination," Mall manager Robert Hart told ABC Action News. "Certain words and images, whether obvious or suggested, spoken or written on clothing, are considered profane and can offend many people....King of Prussia Mall is dedicated to providing a family-friendly atmosphere for all our shoppers and such profanity is not tolerated."
Zakia Clark said she wore the hat because it "is the only expression that I feel is strong enough to defeat the word, defeat the disease."
The sisters did not stay quiet after they were ejected. They told local news that there are plenty of other items in the mall featuring expletives. According to an ABC Action News investigation, one item in an Urban Outfitters store plainly reads, "*expletive* you."
The mall reached out to the girls afterward and offered their condolences, proposing to donate money to a cancer charity of their choosing.
The girls have not responded to the offer.
According to the American Cancer Society Facts & Figures report for 2011-2012, there were nearly 40,000 cancer related deaths in 2011, and approximately 2.6 million U.S. women were living with cancer in 2008, "more than half of whom were diagnosed less than 10 years earlier."
