Im trying to bring this - icon closer to the text but i'm not exactly sure how.
When I go into developer mode it shows me this. 
I don't know what the purplish stuff means. My end goal is to try to move the icon to the upper right corner of where the "Steve First" box is but I'm not sure how to do that. This is the code where i'm building my list.
<List style={{ display: "flex", flexDirection: "row", padding: 0 }}>
<ListItem
className={classes.removePerson}
secondaryAction={
<IconButton
sx={{
zIndex: "1",
width: "15px !important",
height: "15px !important"
}}
>
<RemoveCircleIcon sx={{ fontSize: "20px" }} />
</IconButton>
}
>
<ListItemAvatar>
<Avatar src="stuff.img" />
</ListItemAvatar>
<ListItemText
className={classes.peopleListSpacing}
primary="Steve First Steve First Steve First"
/>
</ListItem>
<ListItem
className={classes.removePerson}
secondaryAction={
<IconButton
sx={{
zIndex: "1",
width: "15px !important",
height: "15px !important"
}}
>
<RemoveCircleIcon sx={{ fontSize: "20px" }} />
</IconButton>
}
>
<ListItemAvatar>
<Avatar src="stuff.img" />
</ListItemAvatar>
<ListItemText className={classes.peopleListSpacing} primary="Steve First" />
</ListItem>
</List>
The purple space is available space that is not being utilized.
How about just making your ListItemAvatar a flex container and centering it? You might like to right align it, then just add some right margin.
Create a new listItemAvatar prop in your classes object.
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
<ListItemAvatar className={classes.listItemAvatar}>
<Avatar src="..." />
</ListItemAvatar>