2nd Congressional District: Shomari Figures wants to build up communities

This is one in a series of profiles of the candidates in the April 16 2nd Congressional District runoff. Yesterday: House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels. Tomorrow: Former Sen. Dick Brewbaker.

Shomari Figures talked to a lot of kids during his campaign.

On a recent Saturday, Figures attended the Easter event at Blount Cultural Park in Montgomery, where he spoke with children old enough to speak for themselves and to parents about kids still too young to talk. He took a photo with a boy who recognized him from being on television.

Figures, an attorney and native of Mobile, often took the time to explain the new congressional district, which includes parts of Mobile, Montgomery and the Black Belt. The district was changed after a lengthy legal battle and now provides the opportunity for a Democrat to win.

He said that it’s important to build up communities, especially in rural areas, with infrastructure.

“To many of our communities in this district, they just don’t have that luxury and so those communities need the federal government to be there for them and so that’s what I want to focus on,” he said.

Figures said that addressing poverty in the district would mean assessing each community’s particular needs. He said he wants to ensure that they are taking full advantage of programs, especially for addressing poverty for the elderly and for children.

“The poverty conditions faced by a kid in Castleberry, Alabama is different than what it looks like for a kid in Montgomery, Alabama or Mobile, Alabama,” he said.

Figures returned to Mobile to run for office, leaving behind his role as deputy chief of staff and counselor to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington, D.C. He said he could use his D.C. relationships and what he learned there to better serve the district.

Figures said that his highest priorities included health care access, including Medicaid expansion, which Alabama has not opted into. While the decision to implement the program will be up to the state government, Figures said that the federal government could offer certain reimbursements to states to encourage them.

“So that’s priority number one: How can we help people in the state of Alabama get better access to health care and live longer?” he said.

Figures also said he would vote to codify Roe v. Wade.

Chandra Davis, a Montgomery resident, said that she had had a child after her tubes were tied, which had impacted her financially.

“There’s a grand depreciation and a differentiation between how people of color are treated at the doctor, between our counterparts and so we got into that conversation on what did we think would possibly change?” she said. “And I told him that it has to do with the systemic overlook and that we are groomed into a different type of understanding when you are a person of color. ” 

Figures also said he wanted to improve education. To keep teachers in the classroom, Figures said that federal resources could be leveraged. He said that teachers should be in a modern environment, and they shouldn’t treat good teachers as an expendable resource.

“Like we have teachers here that devote their lives, their time, their energy, their hearts and their careers, to educating the future workers of this state, and, we have not been there for our teachers in the way that we need to be,” he said.

Figures said that he wants to see the country go beyond treating LGBTQ+ people differently. He said he doesn’t think that people should be discriminated against because they make some people uncomfortable.

“They deserve to be able to live in a country where they can be happy, where they can have the same pursuit of happiness and the same rights and privileges without fear of being fired or terminated or expelled or were treated differently because of who they are,” he said.

Figures said that he believes in climate change and wants to listen to experts.

The Protect Progress PAC, which supports blockchain work, has supported the Figures campaign. Figures said that there have been no promises made.

“I believe that innovation is, in blockchain technology, particularly is something that has enormous potential and will be something that’s incorporated into technological innovation and advancement for decades to come,” he said. “I do believe in that. And I believe that any regulations or the regulations that we put in place need to be informed and tailored towards an understanding of that. I’m not opposed to regulation.”

Figures said that representing both the urban and rural parts of the district would mean a lot of listening, and added that the economy of Alabama flows from rural to urban areas.

“We can’t just suck the resources, the beneficial resources out of our rural communities without reinvesting in those communities to make them more economically viable and addressing their unique challenges as a whole,” he said.