Cast members from the hit show \u201cHamilton\u201d \u2014 which has played its own role in the aftermath of the election of President Donald Trump \u2014 took to the stage in Grant Park Saturday morning to sing \u201cLet it Be\u201d to thousands of people gathered for a protest march and rally.
Women\u2019s rights advocates and supporters gathered to support of women\u2019s access to healthcare and to denounce President Trump.
The march and rally were part of a nationwide series, all set to be held the day after Trump took the oath of office to become the 45th President.
\u201cA chorus of thousands cannot be ignored,\u201d one of the organizers declared from the stage, not long after another speaker, Aislinn Pulley of the Black Lives Matter movement, reminded the crowd of how protesters had helped lead to the cancellation of a Trump rally last summer that had been planned for the UIC Pavilion.
Pulley said Chicago \u201chas no reason to despair,\u201d and will next \u201ckick out\u201d Mayor Rahm Emanuel and President Trump.
\u201cWho\u2019s gonna do that? We\u2019re gonna do that. Who has the power? We have the power,\u201d chanted the crowd.
Ald. Susan Garza (10th) gave an impassioned speech urging Chicagoans to fight for their rights in the Trump presidency.
Jody Jewell and Becky Vizzone | Sam Charles\/Sun-Times
\u201cToday we need to send a message to Washington D. C., \u2018Do not mess with Chicago,’\u201d Garza said.
Dozens of other speakers, including aldermen Michele Smith (43rd) and Pat Dowell (3rd), were scheduled to give remarks before the crowd \u2014 which organizers said is expected to reach 50,000 \u2014 marches to Federal Plaza at 11 a.m.
Carol Benson, 51, said despite the march\u2019s name, the day\u2019s events aren\u2019t only about women.
\u201cWe have friends of all races, genders [and] creeds. It\u2019s not just women\u2019s rights, it\u2019s human rights,\u201d Benson said.
The crowd packed streets and CTA platforms on its way downtown; those who had gotten an early start had the right idea.
Carol Benson (left) joined friends for the rally in Grant Park. | Nader Issa\/For the Sun-Times
Standing against a barricade at Jackson and Columbus, Jody Jewell and Becky Vizzone, both lifelong Chicagoans from the Northwest Side, were downtown by 7:30 a.m.
\u201cIt\u2019s real, so we have to make people understand that this is real, this is happening,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to repeal our rights.\u201d
\u201cThe climate has gone from rhetoric to real,\u201d Vizzone added. \u201cWe\u2019re not having it.\u201d
Jewell said her teenage daughter was another reason for her attendance.
\u201cThis is so important,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cI have a 13-year-old daughter and I can not picture her not having access to Planned Parenthood.\u201d
It was a much busier-than-usual Saturday morning at the Ridgeland Green Line station in Oak Park. | Sun-Times
In Oak Park, the line just to get into the Ridgeland station stretched out the doors. Some waited 10 minutes just to get in and through the turnstiles; upstairs, the crowd packed the platform.
Some resorted to riding an outbound train one stop to Oak Park Avenue, hoping for a better chance to board the train. On the way, a man engaged them in conversation about Trump \u2014 called him a \u201cclown\u201d \u2014 but didn\u2019t appear to know about the march.
He noticed the Oak Park Avenue platform parked as the train approached.
\u201cWhere are all of them going?\u201d he asked.
\u201cThe women\u2019s march,\u201d some replied.
\u201cMan, you must really hate him.\u201d
On board the Green, a two lucky girls with seats perched backward, looking out the window and sharing a small letter-sized sign they had decorated with red tulips around a green-inked border.
\u201cBe respectful,\u201d the sign said. \u201cBe responsible. Be compassionate.\u201d
Crowds headed to Saturday\u2019s march packed CTA platforms in Oak Park waiting for trains to the Loop. | Sun-Times<\/p>\n

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