Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sorghum n.

[the racist response to the replacement of such offensive terms as ‘kaffir beer’ or ‘kaffir corn’ by ‘sorghum beer’ and ‘sorghum corn’]

(S.Afr.) a derog. term for a black person.

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Drum (Johannesburg) Apr. 2: There was a time they referred to us as sorghums in Pretoria. This was after they had changed kaffir corn and kaffir beer to sorghum corn and sorghum beer [DSAE].