Memes of the Rising Sun

n 2008, after his father died, Mr. Sylvester opened his father’s locked cupboard. It was full of Biafran money. Nearly forty years after the failed secession’s end, the notes were slightly warped but still crisp. He ran his thumb over the bluish palm tree and tilted it towards the light to see the printed words “BANK OF BIAFRA.” Mr. Sylvester and his mother had earned these notes during the Civil War, while his father had been on the run from military conscri

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