In South Africa, the word was loosely used to refer to native South Africans. It was adopted as a derogatory term after 1948 when the Apartheid system was established. Under crimen injuria, the epithet kaffir has been actionable in the justice system of South Africa since 1976. In 2000, the South African parliament also enacted the Promotion of Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, which has among its primary objectives the prevention of hate speech terms such as kaffir. When describing the term, the euphemism the K-word is now often used instead of kaffir.
Kaffir has also been used to refer to an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Kaffirs, who are partially descended from 16th century Portuguese traders and the slaves that they brought from their colonies in Africa to work as labourers and soldiers. Unlike in South Africa, the Sri Lankan Kaffirs do not consider the term offensive.
We are all Kaffirs.
It comes from the Arabic word for unbeliever and referred to all non Muslims.
I guess I should refrain from saying 'shvartze'.