Deployment Ceremony
A soldier from the 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion of the New York Army National Guard Soldiers sheds a tear during a farewell deployment ceremony where members of the military said goodbye to their families before departing for post-mobilization training at Fort Bliss, Texas and eventual deployment to Afghanistan, August 19, 2012. ( Melissa Elian/The Journal News )
Black Lives Matter
Ferguson, Missouri - Nov. 30, 2014 A little boy draws the outline of Mike Brown's body on the sidewalk of Canfield Road, just a few yards from the location where 19-year-old Brown was gunned down by police officer Darren Wilson on Aug 9, 2014. Art supplies were provided to children in the neighborhood as a way for them to process their feelings about the racial tension, protests and rioting that has taken place since the end of summer.
School Safety Training
Officers of the Westchester County Police Special Response Team storm the halls of the Westchester School for Special Children in Yonkers during an intruder lock down drill, Apr. 26, 2013. Leonard Spano, a former police officer and current executive director to the school called for the drill to relieve the anxieties of parents and students through preparedness months after the Dec. 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conneticut ( Melissa Elian/The Journal News )
Memorial Service
Dozens of Westchester Sihks held a memorial service to honor the victims of a Wisconsin shooting where a gunman opened fire at Sihks praying in a temple just one week prior, August 12, 2012. ( Melissa Elian/The Journal News )
New Year's Kiss
Revelers bring in New Year's with kisses during a hotel party in Times Square, New York City, NY Jan 1, 2014 (Melissa Bunni Elian/Joonbug)
Behind The Scenes
A production assistant holds up a silk sheet to catch the ocean breeze while Colombian violinist Luisa Bastidas performs as Esmeralda during a music video shoot for her upcoming hiphop/latin fusion album, Queens, New York July 25, 2014.
Latinista Fashion Week
Models standby during rehearsal for the Latinista Fashion week kick-off featuring a weekend full of fashion and parties recognizing the work of Latino designers in the fashion industry. The runway event was held at Ogilvy & Mather in Manhattan, New York, NY, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. (Melissa Bunni Elian for New York Daily News)
Beauty Contest
Beauty pageant contestants line up backstage before the start of the Miss New York USA and Miss New York Teen USA 2013 Finals, Jan. 20, 2012 ( Melissa Elian/The Journal News )
Christmas in the Bronx
Over 400 Hunts Point children celebrated Christmas early this year at Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education. A Santa Claus delivered the goodies to the kids as part of Community Board 2′s annual holiday gift-giving event for neighborhood children, December 14th, 2013.
Immigration Reform
Members of Make the Road New York, an immigration reform activist group, stand will fellow activists in the fight for citizenship. A coalition of labor unions, legal aid providers and activists joined in opposition to the Republican-lead delay of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA), a measure President Obama enforced through an executive order on immigration reform in November 2014. The New York Immigration Coalition hosted a press conference in response to the legal hold up brought about by Federal Judge Andrew Hanen's decision to delay immigration relief. There are approximately 300,000 illegal immigrants in New York who live in fear of deportation and limited job prospects whose stand to benefit from the mandate. New York, New York, Feb. 18, 2015. (Melissa Bunni Elian for New York Daily News)
A Growing Movement
"How does decency face brute force?" asks Princeton philosopher Cornel West during a town hall meeting about police shootings at the Mount Hope AME Zion Church in White Plains, Apr. 20, 2013. The speaker delivered a message of love, fighting victimization and maladaptation to indifference to a packed audience. ( Melissa Elian/The Journal News )
Protest
Two-year-old Akaila Gurley, the daughter of Akai Gurley, is lifted up by an activist so she can be seen by the crowd of protestors in Brooklyn, NY, December 27, 2014. Over 200 people gathered to raise awareness for Gurley, who was shot in a unlit stairwell of the Pink Houses, a public housing complex, by a New York City police officer on Nov. 20, 2014.