Ukrainians in Russian empire and in the Soviet Union were blacks in the racist America. They were claimed to be "dirty", "stupid", their language was mocked, their national cloth and accent was used as a "funny" thing in comedies (aka "blackface"). Their carrier had clear limits.
In the Soviet army, Ukrainian recruits were forbidden to talk Ukrainian to each other - even on the territory of Ukraine. A military carrier was mostly limited up to warrant-officer. Ukr. were "praised" to be "good household holder", that is why so many Ukr. served at warehouses.
If you want to imagine a portrait of a "good" Ukrainian in Soviet propaganda, think of Mammy from the "Gone with the wind" - a loyal servant, very ground-stable and knowing his/her place. A "bad Ukrainian" instead was pictured as rebellious, dreaming of independency (unheard!)
The only way for a Ukrainian to make a carrier was to abandon and betray his/her Ukrainian roots. Start to speak Russian. And maybe sometimes entertain his/her Russian bosses by singing Ukrainian songs during parties. Be a clown sometimes, so to say.
This perception is dominant until now - even in many Ukrainian social groups. Ukrainian language is perceived as "funny", "uneducated", "a language of the village", "not a language of cultivated persons". It is named a "cows' language" and "peasants' talk".
The representatives of one of the biggest Ukrainian TV channels, close to Kolomoysky and Zelensky, said, they produce only comedies in Ukrainian, because Ukrainian is funny. And for serious films, dramas etc. they use Russian as a "serious" language.
Zelensky himself spoke Russian all the time and made his carrier in Moscow, called Ukrainians "Khokhly" from a Moscow stage in front of Moscow audience - the same as "N-word" in English. In his show in Ukraine, he used Ukrainian language only to play stupid arrogant persons.
Last December, a gang of drunken Russian-speaking teens has killed a Ukrainian person in the street of Ukrainian town of Bakhmut just because he was speaking Ukrainian. It was a hunt against Ukrainians - just like a KKK staff in the U.S.
Once more: Ukrainian society is a post-colonial society, deeply traumatized by centuries of suppression and genocide. To understand Ukraine, one must see it through lens of post-colonial studies. The most stupid things one can do is to call ppl who use Ukrainian "right-wings".
The fight for Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture is a liberation fight, a fight agains imperialism and colonialism. Those who question the right of Ukrainians not only to speak Ukrainian but also to reject Russian de facto repeat the slogan "All lives matter" and other BS.
