I just got accepted to Howard, and after interviewing there, I can definitely say that there are plenty of every race and background, but it is known as a historically African American school - and about 50% of the class is. I don't think being one race or another would be a huge drawback if you have decent grades & scores, and Howard is really the school you want to go to.
From the interview, I could tell that they were trying to check if people legitimately wanted to go there, and weren't just thinking "Oh, Howard, that's got to be an easy school to get into."