Mansfield didn’t start out with the idea of a vineyard when he totally transformed his life in his 50s after coming home from prison.
He told me in no uncertain terms that he was never returning to incarceration and was self determined to make a different life for himself. I know first hand because when he came home I had a house I was in the process of rehabbing and Mansfield stayed in the downstairs unit for a short time.
Initially, he wanted to sell greeting cards from individuals, still incarcerated, as a way to show the humanity of people behind bars through art.
He also was determined to write for publications.
He ended up doing both. Some of his ideas would take root. Others didn’t. Some were beyond imagination, but, Mansfield could make it feel real to you if you let him talk and share his ideas. Some were so far fetched that even sometimes I had to say to myself, what is my uncle thinking…. But one thing was for sure, he was unafraid to try, to be wrong, and to be mostly right as he was in so many areas of expertise and enterprise.
No matter what, his was determined to thrive, and live in Cleveland. That’s exactly what he did.
Mansfield is more than Neighborhood Solutions and Chateau Hough. Yes, these are ideas that he brought into fruition, but for his birthday this year, I want to lift up his sheer self determination.
As I am writing this from the Caribbean Sea in Jamaica, I had the honor to visit Marcus Garvey’s Liberty Hall. All I could think about was Mansfield. Yes, Mansfield could have played Garvey easily in a play because they have a similar stature, and Mansfield could speak eloquently. And in many ways, Mansfield, in his own way, represented the kind of Black man that Garvey would have been proud of.
Not the one for super fanfare for his birthday, I simply say in this reflection Happy Birthday, cat.
Your Nephew,
TJ
Jahi