Like a prayer - analyse

Lore/story: The video starts out with... a girl falling on the ground of the street witnessing an

assault on a woman. Afraid to get involved because she might get hurt, she is frozen in fear. We see a black man and the police arrive and arrest him. We see that one of the gang memebers gives this girl a look that says she'll be dead if she tells, when is frozen. The girl runs, not knowing where to go, until she sees a church. She goes in and sees a saint in a cage who looks very much like the black man on the street, and says a prayer to help her make the right decision. He seems to be crying, but she is not sure. She lies down on a pew and falls into a dream in which she begins to tumble in space with no one to break her fall. Suddenly she is caught by an African American woman who represents earth and emotional strength and who tosses her back up and tells her to do the right thing. Still dreaming, she returns to the saint, and her religions and erotic feelings begin to stir. The saint becomes a man. She picks up a knife and cuts her hands. I would say that it is the guilt in Catholicism that if you do something that feels good you will be punished. As the choir sings, she reaches an orgasmic crescendo of sexual fulfillment intertwined with her love of God. She knows that nothing's going to happen to her if she does what she believes is right. Now we see the whole scene of the assault. This on the street witnesses an assault on a woman. A black man walking down the street also sees the incident and decides to help to woman. But then the police arrive and arrest this black man. As they take him away, she looks up and sees one of the gang members who assaulted the girl. He gives her a look that says she'll be dead if she tells. She wakes up, goes to the jail, tells the police the man is innocent, and he is freed. Then everybody takes a bow as if to say we all play a part in this little scenario.