By Kern Magazine Editors | Published on May 8, 2026 | Photo Credit: Kern Media LLC
At 30 years old, David Silva is helping reshape what Indigenous visibility looks like in Kern County—and he’s doing it by creating spaces that never existed before.
Born and raised in Kern County, Silva says he grew up feeling the absence of Indigenous representation around him, despite carrying both Native and Chicano heritage. He gets his Native heritage from both his mother and father. His tribal affiliations include Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham heritage, while he also identifies with his broader Yaqui roots.
“There’s a lot of the Latino and Latina culture, and that’s prevalent,” Silva says. “But I didn’t have that one half of me that was missing—the Native Indigenous side.”
That feeling followed him into higher education at California State University, Bakersfield, where he noticed there was still no visible community for Indigenous students on campus.
“And so I advocated,” Silva says. “I found people who looked like me from the culture and wanted to have the same thing.”
David Silva pictured with Anissa Robidoux at CSUB’s MMIP 2026 Awareness Week
In 2021, Silva founded CSUB’s first Native Indigenous student organization, launching what would become a wave of historic firsts for the university.
Since then, he has helped establish the campus’s first Indigenous graduation ceremony, the first Missing and Murdered Indigenous People march, and expanded Indigenous faculty and staff advocacy initiatives. Today, Silva serves as the university’s first-ever Tribal Liaison—a milestone meaningful to all Native and Indigenous communities in Kern County.
“It’s really about education,” he says. “And creating solidarity.”
During Silva’s sit-down interview with Kern Magazine, he shared that his own family has experienced the realities behind the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis, often referred to as MMIP.
“One of my cousins was trafficked,” Silva says. “Thankfully, we were able to find her before she was taken from us permanently.”
That experience became part of the driving force behind the annual MMIP awareness events he now helps organize at CSUB. For 2026, Silva is wrapping up the week that began May 4, 2026.
“It’s an epidemic that faces Native Indigenous people and no one talks about it,” he says. “It’s not highlighted. It’s not mainstream.”
The annual march and awareness week now brings together students, tribal organizations, advocates, local agencies, and community members for cultural workshops, educational outreach, wellness circles, and symbolic red dress displays honoring missing and murdered Indigenous relatives.
“One of the biggest things we were able to do was start a red dress drive,” Silva says. “Each dress represents women, girls, men, and boys who are either missing, gone, or have been murdered.”
CSUB’s MMIP Awareness Week
But Silva’s impact reaches far beyond organizing events.
Alongside completing his master’s degree in public administration, he also serves as CSUB’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (CALNAGPRA) coordinator, helping oversee repatriation compliance efforts involving Native American ancestral remains and cultural artifacts.
His dream, he says, is to someday establish a full Office of Tribal Relations at CSUB.
“For me, what that would mean is focusing on Native Indigenous initiatives, enrollment, outreach, and recruitment,” Silva says. “And providing collaborative and supportive programming for students, staff, faculty, and our community members.”
David Silva pictured with hip hop artist, dancer, and storyteller Supaman
Even with a growing list of accomplishments, Silva remains focused on the people who helped him get there.
“My biggest mentors are our elders,” he says. “They have so much wisdom to pass down.”
This piece of jewelry was made by David Silva’s mentor, Elder Eugene “Gene” Albitre who recently passed away.
He reflected on his father, who passed away in 2021 just as Silva’s work at CSUB was beginning to gain momentum.
“He didn’t get to see all the firsts that I’ve done,” Silva says. “He didn’t get to see the community that I’ve been able to build.”
Still, Silva says the work has never been about recognition.
“I do not serve in this capacity because it’s something I’m getting paid to do,” he says. “This is work that I’m doing because I genuinely care. I care about our community. I care about providing pathways for Native Indigenous people to be seen in higher education.”
What started as one student searching for representation has become something far bigger—a growing movement rooted in culture, visibility, healing, and belonging right here in Kern County.
Local plein air artist Charlotte White joined the sit-down interview and did live portrait sketch art as the interview unfolded.
Kern Magazine’s Signature Questions
What do you love about your Kern County community?
“I think the biggest thing that I love is that when I need them, they show up. And that’s really powerful because if I, for instance, for the [MMIP] march, I know that the people I reach out to are going to show up. Not just because that means something to them, but because I mean something to them.”
When you eat local where do eat?
“One of my favorite breakfast spots is Wake Up! Café on the east side of Bakersfield. Their chili verde nachos are definitely one of my all-time favorite dishes.”
When you want to get out of town where do you like to go?
“If we do get to go out of town, then it’s probably going to be somewhere, where there’s water or wilderness. I love nature. The most beautiful place I’ve been to has to be Yellowstone.”
