Raleigh activist explains why he's not on board with Dreamville Festival
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Joshua Bishop is not embracing the Dreamville Festival's arrival in Raleigh.
"No, I won't go to Dreamville and I don't suggest my people go to Dreamville," Bishop said.
Born and bred in southeast Raleigh, Bishop turned his life around from a crime-filled youth. Now, as chairman and activist for Justice Served NC, Bishop said he believes the festival's ticket prices, some as high as $400, are out of reach for the city's more marginalized residents.
He thinks the location, Dorothea Dix Park, is a symbol of the gentrification that's pushing poorer Raleighites out of their neighborhoods.
"Southeast Raleigh matters. So don't make it look like Southeast Raleigh is just Dorothea Dix Park, Bishop says. "If you're going to do a festival in Raleigh, and J Cole should know the struggle because he's from Fayetteville, so I feel like if you do do a performance in Dorothea Dix Park, some of the funds should come back to Southeast Raleigh."
For its part, the Dreamville Festival is donating a portion of this weekend's profits to hurricane-relief efforts and to the Dix Park Conservancy.
The event is sold out.
