We have to wake up and take responsibility for ourselves - protect ourselves. If the story involves a meeting with many aspects, pick the most important one for the lede, then support and elaborate on that aspect in the third graph. Notice there are no commas setting this quote off from the sentence. It is a integral part of the sentence, so, no need to set it off. They are not enclosed in quote marks.
Quotes help build story credibility.
You should use them in stories. If you are not sure you have the exact words, do not place the material in quotes, paraphrase. Most of your quotes will be explanatory , meaning they are fleshing out a paraphrase and would make little sense without some additional explanation. When you interview witnesses for a story, they will most commonly give you explanatory quotes. Do NOT quote, then explain.