I have come up with this term to refer to the non-inclusion of a group of people, for discriminatory reasons, in the audio-visual “texts” of the mass-media in any racist society (films, tv shows, radio programs, and so on). This is most clearly visible, in this country, at the time of, for example, film casting where ordinary roles, which in real life could be performed by anyone (including blacks, women, etc.), are assigned exclusively to whites or males. In this instance, textual erasure results from stereotypes or outright racism/sexism on the part of filmmakers. For example, the stereotype that blacks occupy only lower class positions in society [which of course is not entirely true]—therefore film roles featuring middle or upper class positions should not be assigned to black actors. A group who are almost always targets of textual erasure in Hollywood films (for racist reasons) are Asians—even though many of them in this country are middle class and professionals. This concept, however, does not apply only to audio-visual texts; it also applies to the erasure of the presence of peoples of color (or women in general) in regular texts, such as history books by, for example, either completely neglecting their roles in history or subjecting them to only a cursory nod. The concept of the Great East-to-West Diffusion (see term above) is my response, for instance, to this form of erasure.