Cockroaches
Cockroaches are initially introduced as a right-wing racist symbol the infestation of illegal immigration introduced by talk radio host Lou Becker to describe how “illegals come to our country and state to live and breed.” Later, however, when a voicemail recording of the murder of a Mexican man by white racists is played and the assailants use the term to describe the man, cockroaches transform into a symbol of the way that racial intolerance and irrational hatred lives and breeds.
Pink Underwear
Former real-life Arizona Sheriff and convicted felon pardoned by Donald Trump, Joe Arpaio, makes a cameo appearance by proxy when a caller to the right-wing radio talk show praises his practice of making prisoners wear pink underwear. Later, the tables get turned when Lou Becker is abducted by and forced to wear pink underwear under humiliating circumstances. Thus, pink underwear becomes a symbol of the element of absolutely unnecessary degradation that seems to always seep into the racist treatment illegal immigrants as supposedly a purely legal matter.
Names
Names are given symbolic meaning in the play on a number of levels. The most obvious is Ernesto Martinez, who is appropriately earnest in his activism supporting the fundamental humane treatment of those crossing the border illegally. Slightly more complex is the fact that the policeman who causes such trouble for Sandi is not even given a name, but identified only as Arizona Policeman, which strongly suggests his racism is systemic and not the result of a “bad apple.”
Operating on a much higher level of irony is the fact that Sandi’s boyfriend Matt Williamson is a Canadian who entered the country illegally and therefore cannot afford the risk of going by his real name, the extremely not-illegal-immigrant-sounding Dylan Thompson. Most curious of all is the fact that Sandi stopped going by her name Sandra Sanchez by the time the play opens, decides to revert to it by the end of the play and in the list of characters—and only there—is known as Sandi Belen.
Barbecue Sauce
Becker’s abductors slather him with barbecue sauce as an ironic means of making his skin browner. The symbolism here is rather complex in that barbecue sauce is so distinctly identified with white suburban cookouts, as something that is delicious and desirable. Later, after he has survived being dumped in the desert and briefly returns to his radio show, Becker will attribute the change in skin pigment to not wearing sunblock which also invests the sauce with symbolism related to the desirability of darker skin via the suntan and all its associated hypocrisy on the issue of pigmentation.
Rancheras
At the beginning, when Sandi is with her boyfriend in the car, they are listening to the radio when a ranchera song and she quickly turns the dial, saying (keeping in mind she is a second-generation Latina and natural-born U.S. citizen), “God, I hate rancheras.” After her long miserable ordeal is finally over, she is with pro-immigrant activist Ernesto and again listening to the radio when he asks if she likes rancheras. After a moment’s hesitation, she says, “Yeah…I love rancheras, sure.” In that moment, this genre of Mexican music becomes a symbol of commonality, unity and hope for a better future of unity winning out over division.
