By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
The community recently celebrated the grand opening of the Detective Cookie Chess Park in Southeast Seattle. The park name after Seattle Police Detective Denise Bouldin, affectionately known throughout the city as “Detective Cookie”, is a symbol of Bouldin’s work with youth and a continuation of efforts towards racial equity, youth opportunities, and anti-violence.
Detective Cookie was born the eldest of seven children in Chicago, Illinois. She has been with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) for over 40 years, running anti-violence youth workshops to promote safety in the community.
For the past sixteen years, Det. Cookie established and ran “Detective Cookie’s Chess Club” out of the Rainier Beach Community Center, several schools throughout the area as well as the Rainier Beach library. As a conduit to engage with the youth of our community, Bouldin believes that chess can play a major role in instinctive and cognitive development of youth and adults.
Accompanied by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Seattle Department of Transportation Director Greg Spotts, Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz, and the community at-large, the chess park was officially opened to the public last week and will serve as a safe haven in Southeast Seattle that will provide youth and adults at place to cultivate their minds and strategic thinking.
Located in the heart of the Rainier Beach community on the corner of South 51st Street and Rainier Avenue, the chess park, which is adorned by fuchsia purple banners with chess piece cut outs, features a life size chess board as its floor that houses life size chess pieces the height of a toddler. Two tall and distinctive cylindrical metal art structures, created in the form of the King and the Queen chess pieces, stand as a legacy and landmarks dedicated to the work that brought a community that much closer together.
“The chess park opening means a lot to me, personally,” says Bouldin. “I have been involved with the Detective Cookie Chess Club for about sixteen years. It is very rewarding to see how much of a positive impact it has made on the kid’s lives.”
“Chess improves visual memory, attention span and reasoning abilities,” adds Bouldin. “You have to focus as you constantly visualize the board, the pieces, your moves and at the same time be focused on your opponent’s possible countermoves and as your concentration grows you will begin to memorize past games and strategies. You will notice your concentration and memory will grow stronger.”
According to Bouldin, Chess also enhances reading and math skills. It is a way of learning how to focus on problem solving, decoding and analyzing. In addition, chess helps trains the mind to play with the possibilities of what the consequences of the decisions you make, so you must give thought to all your moves.
Bouldin not only sees the new park as a reflection of the work that she has done in the Rainier Beach area, but also as a symbol of accomplishment and inspiration to the hundreds of kids that have benefitted from the program.
“I think the park will mean a lot to the kids,” says Bouldin. “They will see that their chess club is part of something important and bigger than themselves.”
“They will feel that they are a part of this park because it came about due to their chess club,” Bouldin adds.
With construction of the new park now complete, Bouldin hopes that the park will be a destination point for children and chess enthusiasts of all ages throughout the region.
“Construction of this park will have a huge impact on the whole community,” says Bouldin. “I hope it will become a gathering place for people of all ages, colors and walks of life. It will put the Rainier Beach community on the map.”
“Hopefully it will also draw people from other neighborhoods and lead to friendships and positive impacts on everyone,” continued Bouldin.
According to historians, chess, as we know it today, was born out of the Indian game chaturanga before the 600s AD. The game spread throughout Asia, Africa and Europe over the coming centuries, and eventually evolved into what we know as chess around the 16th century.
Finding common ground through this extracurricular activity and coming together with likeminded individuals can be the impetus to community cohesiveness and togetherness. Giving children and adults access to activities as chess provides an opportunity to teach and strengthen our community, and after 16 years Bouldin has had the honor of seeing something she loves to come to manifestation.
“Having a chess park named after me is such an honor and I truly appreciate it,” Bouldin humbly admits. “The love from the community, SDOT, donors, SPD and the Friends of the Detective Cookie Chess Park Committee and everyone involved made this dream a reality.”
“Yes, this is something big, it is for us all,” continued Bouldin. “It shows we can come together and bridge the gap for common cause of giving our community something positive for our youth and adults right here in the heart of the Rainier Beach community.”
