The Post found that in many cases, children who died were buried “in cemeteries at or near the schools they attended, underscoring how, in many cases, children’s bodies were never sent home to their families or tribes”.
Poor record-keeping and the passage of time have made it difficult to determine exactly how many children died at the schools, where conditions were akin to “prison camps,” one expert told the newspaper.
Some cemeteries are marked, while others “are hidden, neglected or have been paved over,” said the Post, adding that its conclusions were based on “hundreds of thousands” of government documents.
Children died of disease, malnutrition and accident, sometimes under suspicious circumstances, according to the Post.
Biden’s speech came after a government report documented the deaths of nearly 1,000 children at such schools, though the real number was always thought to be higher.
