Chicago, Illinois - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at an upcoming convention for the National Association of Black Journalists, but many of its members are not happy about it.

Trump will participate in a panel discussion with several prominent Black female journalists, who will be given the opportunity to ask him anything.

The panel has been met with heightened criticism, as NABJ members have publicly objected to hosting Trump.

On Tuesday, the NABJ's co-chair Karen Attiah announced that she was stepping down from her position, noting that she "was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format."

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Numerous members have taken issue with Trump's consistent attacks against the media, as he regularly calls outlets that give him bad press "fake news."

NABJ members also accuse Trump of having a long history of pushing racist rhetoric and mistreating Black female journalists.

April Ryan, a White House correspondent for The Grio who was NABJ’s journalist of the year in 2017, wrote, "The reports of attacks on Black women White House correspondents by the then-president of the United States are not myth or conjecture, but fact."

"To have a presumed orchestrated session with the former president is an affront to what this organization stands for and a slap in the face to the Black women journalists... who had to protect themselves from the wrath of this Republican presidential nominee," she added.

Every four years, the NABJ invites presidential candidates to speak at their convention. Trump has previously declined the invitation, but as he prepares to take on Democrat Kamala Harris in November, he has been desperately trying to pull in support from large demographics.

In defense of inviting Trump, Tia Mitchell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said she helped "make the call," arguing that it is "in line with invitations NABJ has sent to every presidential candidate for decades."

In a statement announcing his attendance at the convention, Trump claimed that he has "accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history."