Racism in the United States traces negative attitudes and views relating to race or ethnicity held by various people and groups in the United States which have been reflected at various times in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including violence) against racial or ethnic groups. Throughout United States history, white Americans have in general enjoyed legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights which have at various times been denied to members of various ethnic or minority groups. European Americans, particularly affluent white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, are said to have enjoyed advantages in matters of education, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, bankruptcy, and criminal procedure.