A decade-long review of black millennials says black millennials have been reporting for years that they face a higher risk of harassment and violence at the hands of police, and that blacks are increasingly hopeful that participation in the political process can bring about change.

In the detailed report released by Black Youth Project titled "Black Millennials in America," black youth reported the highest rates of police harassment or violence, while also saying they experienced it at nearly twice the rate of other young people.

When asked "Have you or anyone you know experienced harassment or violence at the hands of police?" 54 percent of black millennials (ages 18-29) said yes, compared to 33 percent of white millennials and 25 percent of Latino millennials who said yes.

That data was from a 2009 Mobilization and Change survey, well before Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida and a series of episodes between police and black youth became a national discussion. The report didn't provide updated data on the extent to which minorities are seeing police violence, but it did note that in 2014, only 27 percent of black youth agreed that the "American legal system treats all groups equally."

Forty-one percent of white youth said yes, while a similar plurality (47 percent) of Latinos said yes as well.

When it comes to finding answers, black millennials were found to be more positive than their white counterparts about how politics can be used to bring about change. Seventy-one percent surveyed said they "believe that they can make a difference through participating in politics," compared to about half of whites surveyed, and 56 percent of Latinos, a June 2014 survey found.

"We also see that young Black adults report being politically engaged in a number of ways beyond voting compared to young whites, and #BlackLivesMatter represents one example of how young Black adults participate in politics in ways that extend beyond voting," Jon Rogowski, director of research for BYP and assistant professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis, told the Washington Examiner.

Rogowski, who helped design the report alongside Dr. Cathy Cohen, a professor in the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science, also noted the increase in voting rates among young people in 2008 and 2012 relative to 2004, but specifically the increases by young people of color heading to the voting booths.

In 2012, 46 percent of black youth ages 18-24 voted, compared to 41 percent of white millennials and 27 percent of Latino millennials. Black millennials were also more likely than white and Latino millennials to be mobilized by political parties and community organizations.

And based on the work done by civil justice groups such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the 2016 election won't be a cycle in which youth of color decide to stay silent. Black Lives Matter has released a policy plan it hopes 2016 presidential candidates will adopt, and has interrupted numerous campaign events and held private meetings with candidates.

"Over the last few months, we have heard candidates from both parties address issues that have raised and emphasized by activists and groups such as #BlackLivesMatter," Rogowski said. "We hope these data will provide information to lawmakers, candidates, campaigns, and the broader public about when and how the experiences of young black adults differ from the experiences of young white adults, and how these experiences are then reflected in patterns of political participation and in their support for a variety of public policies."

Black Youth Project, which Rogowski points out is "one of the only organizations that has continued to collect data on the lives and voices of young people, and especially young people of color," believes that this report is just an opening measure for the work the group will do leading up to 2016.

"We hope the data and findings in this report will contribute to a call to action to bring about change rooted in ways black millennials experience contemporary America," the report concluded.

Read the full report here.