Baltimore (CNN) Attendees at this year's NAACP convention said President Donald Trump sent a clear message to black Americans by turning down an invitation to address the venerable civil rights organization's annual meeting -- the second year in a row he rejected an opportunity to speak.

"It's extremely unfortunate that during these pressing and urgent times, the President has chosen to turn his back on the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization," NAACP Board Chairman Leon Russell said in a statement. Trump's decision, he added, "underscores the harsh fact: we've lost the will of the current administration to listen to issues facing the black community."

Thousands of black activists and allies gathered in Baltimore over the past week to discuss legislative priorities and debate the most effective steps for the 108-year-old association to remain relevant as methods of activism change.

Trump's election, many said, injected an urgency among activists who are concerned about his administration's initiatives on issues like crime, health care and voting rights.

"The cases of police brutality, what's taking place in our school systems, this sense of economic insecurity, the extreme gaps in pay, all of those things together has created more activism in ways in which we have not seen in a very long time," said NAACP Interim President and CEO Derrick Johnson. "But unquestionably the election of Donald Trump. If you look at the first 60 days, the number of marches and demonstrations and the number of people who have participated, it really shows that we have a nation where people are unsettled with the outcome of the last election."

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