Crossword Genius

Banish most racist members and middlemen (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ostracise

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'banish' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'most racist members and middlemen' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'racist' is 'straci' which is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ostracise that I've seen before include "Blackball, send to Coventry" , "Cast out, blackball" , "Drive out" , "Blacklist" , "Shun, exclude" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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