Remembering to look for and ignore folks with that telltale indicator has made the fediverse so much more enjoyable.
In the early 1900s, the French government attempted to restrict the use and teaching of many minority languages, including Occitan, in public schools. While the laws have since changed, with bilingual education returning for regions with unique languages in 1993, the many years of restrictions had already caused serious decline in the number of Occitan speakers. (via wikipedia)
It seems rather dishonest to conflate the attention given to the oppression of current minority groups with that given to the oppression of minority groups that hit it's peak around a hundred years ago (and arguably started in the 16th centry).
There's been decades of effort to preserve the culture already, improve the cultural situation for Occitan speakers and there are active efforts to improve the treatment of minority languages and culture in general in France:
I don't think a single person isn't aware that France was staggeringly racist in the early 1900s - for good or ill, nobody is going to argue it wasnt. They've made huge strides on this specific topic, however, and while they can do better, the reason people are unaware is that it's lost in the miasma of horror that was French Colonialism in the era that suppression of Occitan and related minority languages was at its it's height - it's rather restrained for that time period, if we're being honest.